John Brown led the tributes to the late Andy Goram, naming his former Rangers teammate as simply the best the country will ever produce.
Devastated Ibrox icon ‘Bomber’ said he believed Goram at his peak was one of the top goalkeepers in the world. Goram passed away at the age of 58 yesterday morning following a short battle with oesophageal cancer. Brown was by the Scottish football legend’s bedside at the St Andrew’s Hospice in Airdrie. ‘Bomber’ said: “ Andy Goram was just a genius. He was a master of the technical and positional side of goalkeeping. That certainly made up for his relative lack of height. In my eyes he will go down as the greatest Rangers and Scotland goalkeeper of all time. People will say I’m biased, perhaps. But what he achieved in the game far surpasses anyone else and his collection of world class saves were unbeatable.
"He should’ve played a lot more than 43 Scotland games, too. He was the master of his craft.
“At the time of that Champions League run in 1992, beating Leeds in the Battle of Britain and playing Marseille, I think he’d go down as one of the best in the world.
“I remember everyone talking about Peter Schmeichel at Man United at the time but he would throw in the odd goal now and again.
“Meanwhile, for us, The Goalie was producing it against Rudi Voller, Alen Boksic, Gianluca Vialli, so many great European strikers.
“Time after time he was able to pull off saves that people couldn’t believe.
“When he wasn’t there for Rangers, no disrespect to others, but it had us more on edge as a team, it made us feel like dropping a bit deeper to protect our keeper.
“As a defender, we were always felt comfortable when The Goalie was in. Some of the back-ups over the years were good. Andy Goram was great.”