ALLAN McGregor says he is buzzing to be back at Rangers, and admits the opportunity came as a surprise, after joining as lead goalkeeping coach last week.
The Hall of Fame inductee, who made over 500 appearances for the club, got a taste of coaching in Barry Ferguson’s interim team at the end of the 2024/25 season and is now looking forward to playing his part in the long-term vision for the goalkeeping department.
Speaking in an exclusive first interview with RangersTV, McGregor said: “It is great to be back, there are a lot of familiar faces, I obviously had a spell at the end of the season before I enjoyed my time.
“It is a lot different to being a player, but I enjoyed it and I am really glad to be back, buzzing actually.
“I was shocked, I spoke to Jim [Gillespie] a couple of days before they actually offered me the job and it was just a general chat. I met him a couple of days later and they offered me it. I was surprised, but I went back and spoke to my family and had a really good think about it.
“I had never thought about coaching when I was playing, the club always said to me in the last couple of years if I wanted to get into it, they would help me, but I was more focused on being right for games.
“When Barry [Ferguson] phoned me, I jumped at the chance because it was short term and I wanted to help the boys out. This one took a bit more thought because it is a longer-term thing and I thought about how it would look on the club with me not having my badges and having to start them and what I could bring here, it was really important to me.
“I had a little taste of it and it is different, but it’s enjoyable, and once I am focused on something I am all in.”
Retiring in 2023, McGregor missed being around the people, but it was more than that which brought him back as he is determined to help develop the goalkeepers at the club to reach their top level.
He continued: “You do miss it, you miss the day-to-day interaction with different people, the different characters, the staff and the players. I wouldn’t say that was a factor in coming back, the main question for me was what I can bring, and if I can bring enough.
“I’ll give hard work, a lot of honesty and feedback too, as I think that is important to make the boys as good a goalkeeper as they can possibly be. Whether that is on the pitch, in the gym, how they rest and recover, what they eat, I want to do part of everything to help them be the best they can be.”
The 44-year-old said he learned a lot from goalkeepers and coaches in his time as a player. He added: “When a player works with different managers throughout their career I’ve heard them say they take bits of what makes them their own person and their own manager, so I am definitely no different in that respect. I have been very lucky to work with some really good goalkeeping coaches.
“I think it is experience as well, every professional goalkeeper has a different path. I learned a lot from Stefan [Klos], he was incredibly focused in the changing room. I don't think he was overly loud but in the changing room before games you could see total focus. He would only get one or two things in a game, especially at Rangers you need to do them perfectly. I think that is a big thing to concentrate for the whole 90 minutes, it is important. “At any big club you have got to have that competition. They are all at different stages, there is Rydnn who has been around the first team since he was young and it shows what a prospect people at the club think he is, Mason is again another great prospect and hopefully we can get him a loan move to go and play first team football.
“Ivor and Kels will be really pushing to be Rangers number one and play in the first-team. I never took it for granted, I never really thought myself as the number one, I always thought there's competition and nothing is ever guaranteed and you need to work every single day as hard as you possibly can.”
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