Rangers goalkeeper Andy Goram returned to Ibrox yesterday afternoon where he had a face-to-face meeting with manager Walter Smith after his latest breach of discipline when he had failed to report for treatment to his troublesome groin injury.
Goram has been out of action since being injured in the Coca-Cola Cup defeat by Dundee United. He missed the premier division games against Aberdeen and St Johnstone as well as the first leg of the UEFA Cup game against Racing Club Strasbourg in France, where Rangers lost 2-1.
Since then, Goram has been receiving treatment in a bid to have him ready for the return leg at Ibrox on Tuesday.
He had failed to report for treatment at the end of last week and then, again, on Monday. Yesterday afternoon, however, Goram realised he was again in the wrong and hastily returned to Ibrox where he had a lengthy meeting with the manager whose patience with the Scotland player's lifestyle is wearing thin.
There is little doubt that Goram has been disciplined by Smith after this latest indiscretion, and that will be the second time this season that the goalkeeper has been fined by the Glasgow club.
However, there is little doubting his value to the team when he is fit and that makes it unlikely Rangers will allow him to leave.
In any case, his probable successor, Finnish World Cup player Antti Niemi, is suffering from a broken finger and is unable to play until late next month. It is also doubtful if Niemi has sufficient experience yet to lay under the kind of pressure Goram has lived with and thrived upon over the past six seasons.
There is no doubt, though, that Goram must begin to curb the excesses which consistently land him in trouble off the field.
He remains the best goalkeeper in the country when he is 100% fit and, while Scotland manager Craig Brown did not select him for the last World Cup game against Belarus, he realises his value to the squad.
Meanwhile, the way has been left open for Rangers to bring their former captain Richard Gough back to Ibrox from Kansas City Wiz.
Suggestions that former Ibrox manager Graeme Souness, who signed Gough for the Ibrox club, was ready to block any deal, came to nothing last night.
Souness, who is now in charge of Italian second division side Torino, had made preliminary moves to take the 35-year-old central defender to Italy. However, while he had a tentative agreement with the Major Soccer League officials in the United States, he had no deal with the player.
I understand that he called Gough in Kansas yesterday and wished him well if the transfer back to Rangers goes through.
Chairman David Murray was negotiating with the New York-based league officials yesterday over the terms of the proposed transfer.
Rangers, of course, allowed Gough a free transfer when he left the club immediately after having completed the nine-in-a-row title target which the support had demanded from the team.
Now, because of injury to Lorenzo Amoruso, their #4m summer signing from Fiorentina, as well as the long-term knee problems encountered by Alan McLaren, Rangers want Gough back to add cover to their depleted defence.
They also see his organisational and leadership skills being able to help their new-look side bed down just as quickly as possible.
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