McCoist may take a gamble on Craig Gordon

Rangers boss may take a punt on former Scotland goalie.

Ally McCoist is weighing up whether to take a gamble on former £9-million man, Craig Gordon.

The Scotland internationalist became the most expensive British goalkeeper of all time when he signed for Sunderland from Hearts in 2007.

Now, though, he is available without a fee as a free agent, having been out of the game for two years with a serious knee injury.

Having helped with his rehabilitation, the Rangers manager has had the ideal opportunity to assess his readiness to return.

And McCoist, who in the past few days was informed of his budget for players’ wages next season, admits he likes what he has seen of the 31-year-old.

“Craig is still training with us and, in an ideal situation, I’d like to offer him something,” he said.

“I think that would be great. The fact he hasn’t played football in a long time is a concern for everyone.

“But he has had no issue with his injury. His handling and shot-stopping in training have been very good. He is fit and he is clearly a top, top goalkeeper.”

Possibly too good, in fact, with the fear for McCoist being that Gordon might still be able to command the sort of wages that are outwith Rangers’ reach.

“Craig might want to go to a higher level, and he might want to go back down south,” admitted McCoist.

“I honestly don’t know. But I think most managers would look at someone of his class and calibre.”

Rangers rounded off their season with a draw at Dunfermline yesterday, the first points they’d dropped away from home all season.

McCoist said: “The most important thing from our point of view was to get through the game without defeat because we wanted to go through the entire League season undefeated.

“I’ve just said to the boys and the staff that I am unbelievably proud of them.

“They probably won’t realise it tonight, they probably won’t realise it tomorrow. But when they look back a good few years down the line, they should be extremely proud of themselves.

“It’s a massive achievement because you can only beat the opposition in front of you. And I actually think the fact that we had only three draws out of 36 tells you a lot as well.

“We maybe carried a bit of fortune in one or two games, but if someone had said to us right at the start we would go though the whole season undefeated, I certainly wouldn’t have thought that was possible.

“So we’ll let others have their say about what kind of an achievement it is but without doubt it is an achievement.”