Has Rangers goalie question gone away? And the time Rangers conceded four goals three times in one week

Some observations after Rangers’ chastening 4-0 defeat against Ajax in their opening Champions League Group A game in the Johan Cruyff arena.

Neale Cooper (8) thumps in Aberdeen's fourth goal v Rangers in the 1982 Scottish Cup final

Rangers’ trip to the Dell in a week from hell

Rangers conceding four goals in successive competitive matches doesn’t happen very often – not since 1982 in fact. A little-known fact is that they actually conceded four goals three times within seven miserable days that year.

After being scudded 4-0 at Aberdeen on the last day of the 1981-82 league season, probably the last thing Rangers wanted was a trip to Southampton of all places to take a part in a testimonial – especially when they had a Scottish Cup final to prepare for against Alex Ferguson’s side the following Saturday.

But a promise is a promise. Despite many having played the previous day at Pittodrie, Rangers sent down a strong side for the 4pm kick off. The testimonial had been awarded to Southampton coach and jack-of-all trades George Horsfall, who spent over three decades at the Dell. The Ibrox side succumbed 4-2 in front of 7,000 fans. John McDonald and Bobby Russell got the Rangers goals.

John Greig’s side returned up the road to prepare to face Aberdeen at Hampden. It couldn’t go any worse than the previous Saturday, surely? It didn’t. Well, not quite. Rangers took the lead through McDonald after 15 minutes but Alex McLeish scored a magnificent curling equaliser for the Dons. Mark McGhee, Gordon Strachan and Neale Cooper, who thumped into the net from a couple of yards, scored in extra-time to make it 12 goals poor Rangers ‘keeper Jim Stewart had seen flash by him in seven days, although only eight of them were in competitive games.

Can a goalie feel safe when he loses another four goals?

It’s amazing how quickly a genuinely fascinating pre-match topic can be relegated to a side issue. In the countdown to last night’s Ajax clash, the main source of interest was over who Rangers manager Giovanni van Bronckhorst might play in goals. Would he retain faith in Jon McLaughlin, who he promoted to No. 1 at the start of the season? Or might he turn to veteran Allan McGregor as he sought to inject some confidence into the back line after the capitulation against Celtic, when McLaughlin might have done better for all four goals.

The manager knew that by dropping McLaughlin after his first big setback would risk torpedoing the ‘keeper’s Rangers career and it wasn’t too surprising to see the 34-year-old named in the starting line-up. That detail was quickly lost amid another deluge of goals. This time the keeper wasn’t obviously at fault, more the players in front of him.

Still, the loss of another four goals won’t help McLaughlin’s confidence. At least none of them came as a direct result of a mistake by him. Has the issue now gone away? Or might Van Bronckhorst be tempted to change things around on Saturday when Rangers visit Pittodrie?

It’s another huge game and he could explain dropping McLaughlin by simply pointing out that he needed to shake up the defence after the loss of four goals in successive matches. Whatever he decides, Van Bronckhorst knows he has to do something drastic to halt the current slide. Otherwise, his own Ibrox career might be on the line.