Bougherra now expected to miss Celtic Park game
Then again, it will probably change again tomorrow
Any Rangers fan waking up on Boxing Day would have been forgiven for thinking that Santa Claus had left another present for them. The Scottish red tops were falling over themselves to announce that Bougherra was going to be given special dispensation by the Algerian football association to play at Celtic Park.
This gave the club a boost and no doubt this gave the fans and players another lift before trouncing Hibs 4-1 at Easter Road.
Bougherra set up Boyd for the second goal which put Rangers into the lead.
However, the Rangers website has announced that Madjid Bougherra will be available for one more match before he heads to the African Cup of Nations.
This means that on Wednesday night against Dundee United, Bougherra can be selected but is then expected to head off.
The site states that Bougherra will be leaving Glasgow for France on Friday morning to begin preparations for the tournament.
On current form, the loss of Bougherra could be something which Rangers could survive but in a match of this magnitude, a manager would always want his best players to be available.
With the player away for potentially the entire month, it looks as though Bougherra will be seeing the season out at Rangers as speculation over his future has went very quiet.
With Rangers back on form, the lure of a second SPL title may be enough to keep the Algerian stopper at Ibrox for a little longer.
Rangers fans, who do you want to step into the team?
No related posts.
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
If Mr Boughera isn’t available for Jan 3rd then I see three options. Move Mr Broadfoot into ventral defence and play Mr Whitaker at R.B, move Mr Papac into Central defence and play Mr Smith at L.B or (and I prefer this option) bring in young Mr Wilson as a straight replacement at C.B.
I know this may sound a bit riskier than the first two options but if midweek results go as expected then it isn’t a must win game for Rangers and a draw would be a good result.
Thanks Edward.
Wilson never let anyone down in the games that he played, although perhaps he was due a rest.
As long as he never spent the Christmas period on the mince pies and Bucky, he should be okay to step back in at Celtic Park.
Mind you, if the Celtic strikers remain as wasteful as they have been of late, Walter Smith could pick Broxi Bear without too much worry.