It's no exaggeration to sum up Connor Goldson’s Rangers journey as the redemption story of a man once written off amid worries over ticker trouble now transformed into the true beating heart of this Ibrox line-up. His move to Glasgow had come just 18 months after he’d been diagnosed with a life-threatening cardiac issue which required urgent surgery.
Doctors at his previous club Brighton had spotted an enlarged aorta heart valve during a routine screening. Left unchecked, it could have proved fatal. So the decision by Steven Gerrard to make the big Englishman one of his first signings in the summer of 2018 didn’t come without doubts.
All transfers are loaded with an element of risk, but at £3million Gerrard was taking a mighty punt on a centre-back who had played just eight games for the Seagulls following his operation by the time the new Ibrox gaffer travelled to the south coast to persuade him to join his Rangers’ revolution. It was a decision which has paid of handsomely for the Govan outfit.
For a man who feared he may never play again as the doctors broke the news of his condition, he has gone on to show astonishing levels of dependability. Goldson’s become the near-ever-present, always reliable rock at the back upon which all Rangers’ recent successes have been built.
He played every single second along Gers’ Invincible campaign that ended the club’s decade-long wait for Premiership glory and was just as solid in the season just gone as Gers followed up their remarkable surge to Seville by lifting the Scottish Cup. Now as Gerrard’s successor Gio van Bronckhorst prepares to perform his summer surgery on his squad this summer, he’ll be hugely relieved that he he won’t have to find a replacement for that beating heart after Goldson agreed a fresh four-year deal.
And Michael Beale, the man who helped convinced Gerrard to put his faith in Goldson during his stint at the Liverpool icon’s first-team coach in Govan, believes that new contract will be crucial to Rangers’ prospects this season.
The new QPR boss said: “When we recruited Connor it was via a conversation I had with a friend of mine who was playing with Connor at the time. I wasn’t aware of him so much before. But I recommended him to Steven, we sat and thought about it and Steven went down to meet him.
“It was Liam Rosenior [who suggested we look at Connor]. We were on a course together. Liam asked if I’d seen this player at Brighton, he’s really good. I said I roughly knew him but not well enough to jump off a cliff right now. I went away and we spoke about it in-house and we all liked what we saw.
“I believe Steven had done a game for TV in which Connor had played, so there were a lot of little things that came back. We were delighted he came up and he’s done ever so well since.
“So Liam Rosenior was a scout then for Rangers. He’ll probably kill me for telling you that now! Connor has been fantastic. You’ve got to remember we recruited a player who wasn’t playing, who’d had a heart problem the year before but who has now gone on to play literally 98 per cent of the games for Rangers afterwards.
“So when you’re going through that medical and the recruitment process, there will always be questions from the outside – from media and fans about why this guy hasn’t been playing football. But you have to trust your instincts and more often than not we got it right for the outlays we made.
“You’re not going to get everyone right. But in terms of Connor Goldson, we struck gold there.”
As the days ticked down towards the end of Goldson’s previous contract this summer, the centre-back had to weigh up his desire to test himself once again in the Premier League against his affection for Rangers and their fanbase. In the end, the pull of the Ibrox legions proved too strong as he opted to commit himself to Gers’ push for silverware.
“I’m absolutely delighted that he’s signed another four years,” added Beale. “I think it was essential for Gio and Rangers moving forward. But I also thought it was important that Connor re-signed as well because I think that he’s had a great time.
“He’s rode the waves of Glasgow – the good and the bad, the up and down, the criticism and then the euphoria of doing well. He’s come out of it all as a real leader. I’m delighted for him and his family that they will be staying in Glasgow.”
Beale was a crucial component of Gerrard’s coaching team but is now going it alone at Loftus Road after taking his first steps into management. He’ll be expected to wheel and deal to get the most out of a budget that doesn’t quite stack up against some of the Championship big boys.
But Beale is backing himself to make his money go far after transforming a list of bargain buys at Ibrox into highly-valuable assets.
He said: “I was involved in recruitment at Aston Villa [with Gerrard] and Rangers recently, because you have to recruit to the style of play. When we were going to look at Glen Kamara not playing at Dundee and you sign him believing he can be a big player, there’s a bit of a sell there.
“A lot of trust has to be involved but you are bringing Glen for a specific role in the team. You can see how much Calvin Bassey has come to fruition, Joe Aribo, Ryan Kent. There was a financial outlay for Ryan after the loan period [from Liverpool].
“But he’d just come from Bristol City where he hadn’t been playing. So how was he going to come and be a main player at Rangers? I think you need to have a clean eye for how you want to play.
“I’ll need to use all of that now in the role at QPR because it’s similar in terms of maybe not having the finances to go and outlay, so you have cherry-pick and you have to know how you’re going to play and bring players in that complement it.”
