Allan McGregor

At 42 years old, Allan McGregor has this physical status:

Club career

On July 14, 1998, McGregor signed for Rangers. He started his youth career with a broken wrist that kept him out of action for almost a year and stunted his growth. However, after recovering from the injury, he became a regular in the reserve team.

In February 2002, he made his Scottish Cup debut against Forfar Athletic and his Scottish Premier League debut against Aberdeen aged 20. During the 2002–03 season, McGregor did not play a single minute of competitive football, he was merely an uncredited replacement in every match of Rangers' Treble triumph. McGregor made six appearances in the Scottish League Cup twice and four times in the league during the previous season.

McGregor was loaned to St Johnstone, Scotland's Scottish Football League club, during his 2004-05 season, making his first appearance against Alloa Athletic in a Scottish Challenge Cup match. McGregor was a regular fixture for St Johnstone and collected six straight clean sheets for the club. McGregor was named SFL Player of the Month for December 2004, 2004, while playing on loan. He made 24 appearances for the team in total, with 11 of them being clean. McGregor, who returned to Rangers in January 2005, was the club's number one goalkeeper after suffering an injury to first choice Stefan Klos. He played for Rangers for a long time, but then boss Alex McLeish signed Dutch keeper Ronald Waterreus on January 5, a move that enraged McGregor.

Rangers retained Waterreus and Klos for the 2005-06 season, leaving McGregor as the third choice. Dunfermline Athletic was able to profit from this situation and signed McGregor on loan for the season. In a 3–2 league loss to Kilmarnock, he made his debut in a 3–2 loss. He appeared in the 2006 Scottish League Cup Final defeat to Celtic and made 31 appearances in all competitions, including seven clean sheets.

McGregor was the third choice goalkeeper behind Letizi and Klos after the arrival of Frenchman Paul Le Guen as Rangers' manager. McGregor started the 2006–07 season as back-up to Lionel Letizi after a bizarre pre-season cycling injury to Stefan Klos. McGregor was called into action in Rangers' next match, a 2–2 draw away from Kilmarnock, when Letizi was hurt. McGregor was also named man of the match for his efforts in Rangers Uefa Cup qualifier versus Molde. He continued to be named the Scottish Premier League Player of the Month for September and was later given a new deal. Despite his appearances, Le Guen rated McGregor as the second choice goalkeeper. When Letizi recovered from injury, McGregor was suspended. McGregor recovered in goal and was named as the first choice by Le Guen even after Letizi returned from injury.

During Rangers' UEFA Cup match against Israeli side Hapoel Tel Aviv, which they beat 4–0, McGregor was dismissed later in the 2006–07 season. Matteo Trefoloni, the Italian referee, issued a straight red card to McGregor for reportedly headbutting Hapoel replacement Luciano De Bruno after Barry Ferguson's second goal. The incident was not caught on television cameras, and McGregor denied headbutting De Bruno. However, he was banned from two matches, but that was limited to one game on appeal. He was named Player of the Year by his Rangers teammates at the end of his first season as the first choice keeper. McGregor signed a new four-year deal with Rangers in September 2007.

Despite the transfer and subsequent departure of former Manchester United goalkeeper Roy Carroll, he remained Rangers' number one the following season. Rangers advanced to the quarter-finals of the 2008 UEFA Cup after defeating SV Werder Bremen in the fourth round. McGregor's performance in the second leg of the tie earned the manager's praise. In a league match against Hibernian in March 2008, he made his 100th appearance for Rangers. The match ended 2–2 after extra time and went to penalty kicks in the 2008 Scottish League Cup Final. McGregor saved two points, but Rangers went on to win the shootout and the League Cup. McGregor saved a penalty in the third Old Firm League match of the 2007–08 season, but the scores were tied at 1-1 when they were tied at 1–1. McGregor had to be hospitalized shortly after and didn't return to action again this season due to injury, missing out on both the 2008 Scottish Cup Final and Rangers European Cup Finals.

McGregor agreed a new deal in June 2008, retaining him at the club until 2013 and earning him £5 million. Rangers defeated 1–0 in the first game of the 2008–09 season after McGregor saved a penalty in the match against Falkirk. McGregor captained the team against Falkirk in the first Scottish Premier League match of the 2008–09 season due to the absences of captain Barry Ferguson and senior players David Weir and Carlos Cullar. McGregor was a regular in the team up until the Boozegate affair, which resulted in him and Ferguson's removal from both club and country, and was replaced as the Rangers number one by Neil Alexander. On March 21st, he played his last game of the season, a 2–2 draw at home to Hearts. McGregor won the SPL Champions medal in 27 league matches during the 2008-2009 season.

McGregor was named as Rangers' top goalkeeper in the 2009-10 season and appeared in 46 games in all competitions, as well as winning gold in the Scottish League Cup and the SPL championship. Despite McGregor's popularity as the first choice in League, Europe, and Scottish Cup matches, manager Walter Smith made the decision to allow Neil Alexander to play all of the League Cup games, which continued into the following season.

Despite the fact that no contact was made, McGregor was given a one-match retrospective ban by the SFA for kicking out at Aberdeen's Chris Maguire. McGregor saved a penalty against Hamilton in April of this season, winning 1–0. McGregor was praised for his contributions in the second half of the 2010-11 season, winning the SPL Player of the Month award for April. In the final Old Firm game of the season, with a penalty saved in 8 minutes of the game remaining, there were 5 clean sheets in the month, including a man of the match. Rangers won the SPL championship for the third time in a row, by a single point. McGregor played in 36 SPL matches from 2010-11 and announced his intention to sign a new deal once the season was over.

Rangers revealed on July 4, 2011 that McGregor had signed a new six-year contract with the club. In the season opener against Hearts, McGregor started the first nine games for Rangers in season 2011–12. McGregor was chastised for making a bad decision that cost Celtic a point just before half time, which made the score 2–1 in Celtic's favour. Rangers won the match 4–2 on their first attempt. McGregor's boss, Ally McCoist, was praised for stopping Rangers from conceding a goal in their 1–0 victory over Hibernian in October 2011.

Rangers were first elected to the government in February 2012. The company was liquidated after its creditors rejected a CVA in June 2012. The administrator sold the assets, as well as player contracts, to a new Rangers outfit formed by Charles Green. McGregor filed a legal challenge (under "TUPE" rules) to his employment as a result of his transfer to the new company and became a free agent.

After undergoing a medical in Istanbul, McGregor joined Beşiktaş on a two-year deal on July 26, 2012. McGregor, a first team member, helped Beşiktaş finish in the Turkish Süper Lig to a third place finish.

McGregor agreed to Hull City for £1.5 million on a three-year contract on July 2, 2013. In a 2–0 loss at Chelsea on the first day of the 2013–14 season, he made his debut on the first day of the 2013–14 season. McGregor forfeited a penalty, mistiming a punch, and then striking Fernando Torres in the chest five minutes into his debut. He paid for it, but it was in the form of a resulting penalty from Frank Lampard that he saved. Lampard got the better of him in the 25th minute by scoring a free-kick from 30 yards. He appeared in the 2014 FA Cup Final against Arsenal, which Hull City lost 3–2.

McGregor was recovering from a back injury, putting him behind Eldin Jakupovic and David Marshall in the pecking order during the 2016-17 season. In January 2017, he was loaned to Cardiff City to increase his fitness before being allowed to play for Hull again. During a 1–0 win over Burton Albion on January 21, 2017, he kept a clean sheet on his debut.

He left Hull in the summer of 2018, having turned down the offer of a new deal.

In May 2018, McGregor accepted a two-year deal with Rangers. For the fourth time in his career, he was named in the PFA Scotland Team of the Year at the end of the 2018–19 season.

McGregor helped Rangers qualify from their Europa League team in the first half of the 2019-20 season. Rangers and McGregor also agreed to extend his deal by a year in December 2019. McGregor saved a penalty from Ryan Christie for a penalty in the Old Firm derby on December 29, 2019. Rangers won the match 2–1, their first victory at Celtic Park since October 2010.

McGregor set a new club record for appearances in UEFA competitions at the start of December 2020. He made his 400th appearance in his two Rangers spells at the end of the month. McGregor was praised for his role in a 1–0 victory over Celtic on January 2nd, 2021, particularly for Leigh Griffiths' fingertip save.

McGregor aided Rangers in their 2022 UEFA Europa League Final, where they lost on penalties to Eintracht Frankfurt. In their 2022 Scottish Cup Final victory over Hearts, he appeared as a replacement.

He signed a new deal with Rangers in June 2022, and his term is set to run until the 2022-23 season.

International career

Before representing the senior national team, McGregor was capped six times at under the age of 21.

Craig Ferguson, the former Rangers boss, named McGregor in his first squad as Scotland's manager on January 30. On his international debut against Austria on May 30, 2007, he spent the first half of goal before being pulled out. McGregor made his second appearance for Scotland after appearing as a second-half replacement for Craig Gordon in a friendly against Northern Ireland at Hampden in August 2008. When he brought down Warren Feeney, he gave up a penalty, but David Healy saved the match's winning spot kick, resulting in a 0–0 draw. McGregor was then Scotland's first choice goalkeeper for the friendly match against Argentina at Hampden, which was a tumultuous draw, but McGregor made a few notable saves. McGregor was off to a promising start for Scotland when he was picked ahead of Craig Gordon for Scotland's 2010 World Cup qualifier against the Netherlands.

McGregor was barred from representing Scotland again on April 3, 2009, after committing multiple offences of squad discipline. McGregor and then-teammate Barry Ferguson were the last to leave the bar at lunchtime after returning to their hotel at 4 a.m. from the international game with the Netherlands on March 28. The players were later banned from the following match against Iceland on April 1, 2009, but the incident has been referred to by the media as Boozegate. The SFA notified the players that they would not be eligible for national team selection again after they were both unemployed substitutes in the Iceland match by recording gestures. McGregor later apologised and was docked two weeks' wages by Rangers. McGregor was supposed to be recalled to the national team by manager Craig Levein but was forced to leave the squad after being wounded on the way home from a night out in Glasgow city centre. McGregor was called back to the national team after losing 3–0 to Sweden on August 2nd. In order to prevent a heavier loss, he made a string of crucial saves in the match.

In 2010, McGregor was rated as the first choice goalkeeper for Scotland's Euro 2012 qualifiers against Lithuania and Liechtenstein. Despite losing 1–0, McGregor was deemed Man of the match in the qualifying match against the Czech Republic. Even though Scotland was defeated at Hampden 3–2, McGregor was given the man of the match award for his efforts against World and European champions Spain. "He made some outstanding saves, it was a fantastic effort," Spain's internationalist Pablo Hernandez said of McGregor.

When McGregor was selected for the friendly against Brazil at the Emirates Stadium London in March 2011, he remained Scotland's first choice goalkeeper. Scotland lost 2–0. He was then selected for Scotland's first match in the Nations Cup against Northern Ireland in Dublin. McGregor was described by Scotland boss Craig Levein as a "complete diamond" before his second match of the tournament against Wales, after Levein took over Scotland's duties. McGregor earned his 12th and 13th caps in tournaments against Wales and Ireland. McGregor was named Scotland's Best of the Year for 2011-2011.

McGregor played in both international matches against Denmark and Czech Republic in August and September 2011, but was disqualified for making a mistake in the friendly game against Denmark, which cost Scotland a point.

McGregor, a former international footballer, has announced his retirement from international football in March 2019, having made 42 appearances for Scotland. His last game was against Israel in the UEFA Nations League, where he made a crucial save late in order to keep a 3–2 victory.

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