Kris Boyd needs to leave Rangers

Today marked the 378th Old Firm Derby, as Rangers hosted a Celtic side that desperately needed a win to right the ship of their campaign. Once again, for the fourth derby in a row, Rangers came away with a shutout win, 1-0 on Kevin Thomson’s strike late in the first half. There were a few notes of interest in this match from a Scotland NT fan. First, and foremost, every one of the four Rangers players that backed out of Wednesday’s friendly played, and they all played the entire match. Barry Ferguson, Lee McCulloch, Allan McGregor and Christian Dailly have shown pretty clearly where their first loyalty lies, and it’s disappointing. Especially disheartening are Ferguson, our captain, and Dailly, our most-capped active player. If I was George Burley, I would hand the captain’s armband to Stephen McManus, who stepped in against Croatia, and tell him to keep it. He deserves it, right now, more than Barry Ferguson does. To be fair to Rangers, Celtic’s pullout player, Barry Robson, also played, but he only played 10 minutes, which indicates he may have been hurt after all.

The other big point for Scotland was the absence of Kris Boyd. I don’t think there’s a better striker, or certainly a striker with a better strike rate, in the world who can’t get a start. I’ll have a post up on The Offside later today about this, and go into more detail, but Boyd is one of the most effective strikers in the history of the Scottish game, and Walter Smith won’t give him playing time. When he plays, he scores, often multiple times, and he is personally responsible for Rangers’ league cup win this season. That trophy belongs not in Ibrox, but in Kris Boyd’s closet. When he came on against Croatia, he was the only player for Scotland creating chances in the second half, and the only player outside of Kenny Miller’s fantastic goal that managed to create a dangerous shot on goal.

The point is, for the good of both his career and the Scotland side, I really want to see Kris Boyd leave Rangers. There are teams out there that would kill for a guy with his strike rate, and he is just plain unappreciated at Ibrox. More importantly, he’s not developing, the way he could in the Premiership, the Championship, or on the continent. Even playing in a smaller league, like in Ireland, but being the center of a team there, would be better than riding the pine in Glasgow. He deserves to play.