RANGERS international goalkeeper Andy Goram has placed his Ibrox future in doubt because of breaches of training discipline at the club.
Goram looks sure to be placed on the transfer list by Rangers although yesterday in the Faroe Islands, manager Walter Smith would not comment on suggestions that the keeper - one of his first signings for the club - could be sold.
When asked about the position, Smith said tersely: ''I'm here to prepare for a game. That is all I intend to talk about.'' However it appears that Goram, who has had a controversial career with the club, did not turn up for treatment twice in the last week.
The keeper was injured in training 10 days ago and since then has been having daily treatment at the club. Twice, however, he did not appear, and on one occasion, simply went to the Open instead.
He has been in off-field trouble on various occasions, and was placed on the transfer list by Smith three years ago. He recovered from that, returned to the first team, and remained one of the most vital players in the Rangers set-up. It would seem now, though, that the Rangers' manager may have run out of patience with his Scottish international keeper. Smith pointed out yesterday, when talking about the game, that the Finnish goalkeeper, Antti Niemi, had come to the club in the summer determined to make himself the first choice.
The manager added: ''I was happy with that because we had to have two top class keepers here. You need the competition, and you need the quality in place if you have injuries.
''Already Andy Goram is injured and Antti will be playing. Perhaps it is giving the new boy a chance earlier than he might have expected.''
Niemi, the 25-year-old Finn admitted: ''I did not expect to be in the team so quickly. But it is a chance for me, and it is a chance that I want to take.
''I know how good a goalkeeper Andy Goram is. He has been an international keeper for many years and I have watched him and I know that he is a top-class keeper. But, I do not want to sit on the bench for five years, I want to be in the team.
''What I want to do is give the gaffer something to think about when Andy comes back to fitness. It is not a problem for me to go into the team. I am a confident person and that will help me.
''I chose Rangers instead of Coventry because of the chance of playing in Europe. Now, here I am, and I am in Europe already.
''I know it will be hard for me to keep my place. It will not be something which just happens. I will have to work hard and I cannot afford to make a mistake the way I did against Everton last week.
''I thought I played well but, because of one miskick, all the good things I did were forgotten.''
Niemi has played in the Faroes before and, like the other Rangers players, he believes that the game tonight will carry its own hazards.
He said: ''The players here are very fit, and they're very strong and aggressive. They will not lie down to Rangers. We cannot walk on to the field simply expecting to go through to the next round. If we do that, things can go wrong. We must have the right attitude. We must go on with a determination to win the game.''
Rangers manager Smith has preached constantly to his players about the attitude they must adopt against their opponents, GI Gotu, in this preliminary round, first leg game.
He seems to have got the message through to them, and yesterday, as they made their final preparations, Smith said: ''Everyone knows where we may have problems. We have new players here and they have to get to know each other, and to add to that, we have injuries and suspensions which have interrupted our preparations.
''But I am not making excuses. I knew that we had to reshape the team, and we have to accept the consequences of that. We have to accept that it takes time for everyone to come together.
''Gotu don't have that problem. They are organised, and very capable, and aggressive. There are no individual players I would single out because they perform as a team and it's there that their strengths lie.
''They are not naive in a defensive sense. They will make things awkward.
''But we do want to win this game. That is first and foremost.
''I would be happy if we put on a good performance and also came out with the win.
''I'm told that Gotu will not be nervous because we have some big names in our side. That won't worry them. That is more likely to lift them.''
Smith, of course, is without Paul Gascoigne, Sergio Porrini, and Staale Stensaas who are suspended. He is without Lourenzo Amorouso and, of course, his troubled goalkeeper Goram, because of injury.
He has long-term absentees also but the team he is likely to field will still contain a large proportion of international players from several different countries.
The one team fact he did release was that Brian Laudrup, his newly-appointed captain, and the Italian Marco Negri would play together up front.
The rest of the team will probably be: Niemi; Moore, Bjorklund, Vidmar, Cleland; Gattuso, Ferguson, Thern, and Albertz; Laudrup and Negri.
Yes, just two Scots. This is the new Rangers.
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