Physically, John Souttar was struggling with an ankle injury he’d picked up at Hearts.
Mentally? God only knows how the Rangers defender was coping after the tragic loss of his brother Aaron just 13 days previously. Either way, he shouldn’t have played in the club’s opening Premiership game of the season at Livingston.
Souttar admits that himself now. When he was subbed off after 67 minutes, we didn’t see him again for seven months. Eventually, he needed surgery on the ankle. And at the same time as going through a grieving process he had to get his head around another lengthy lay-off and a false start to his Ibrox career. Souttar’s resilience is unquestionable. But as he ponders how his Rangers journey began that day in West Lothian, he accepts that he wasn’t truthful enough to the club’s medical staff – or himself.
