Allan McGregor

Allan James McGregor (born 31 January 1982) is a Scottish professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper.

McGregor has previously played for Rangers, St Johnstone, Dunfermline Athletic, Turkish team Beşiktaş, English club Hull City and Welsh side Cardiff City, and made 42 international appearances for Scotland.

McGregor signed for Rangers on 14 July 1998.

His early career suffered a setback when he injured his wrist during a youth match followed by a broken hand that kept him out of action for nearly a year and stunted his development.

However, upon returning from the injury he became a regular in the reserve team.

McGregor first appeared in a senior match squad in January 1999, featuring as an unused substitute at age 16.

A product of the Hutchison Vale youth football club in Edinburgh, McGregor made his first team debut for Rangers in February 2002 in a Scottish Cup match against Forfar Athletic.

He made his first team debut in February 2002 in a Scottish Cup match against Forfar Athletic and his Scottish Premier League debut against Aberdeen aged 20.

McGregor did not play a single minute of competitive football during the 2002–03 season, being an unused substitute in every match of Rangers' Treble success.

The following season, McGregor made six appearances, twice in the Scottish League Cup and four times in the league.

In the 2004–05 season McGregor was loaned to First Division club St Johnstone, making his debut in a Scottish Challenge Cup match against Alloa Athletic.

McGregor featured consistently for St Johnstone and kept six consecutive clean sheets for the club.

While playing on loan, McGregor was named SFL Player of the Month for December 2004.

He made 24 appearances in total for the club and kept 11 clean sheets.

Upon returning to Rangers in January 2005, McGregor became the number one goalkeeper at the club after an injury to first choice Stefan Klos.

He played consistently for Rangers, but manager Alex McLeish signed Dutch keeper Ronald Waterreus on deadline day in January 2005, a move which angered McGregor.

For the 2005–06 season, Rangers retained Waterreus and Klos, leaving McGregor as third choice.

Dunfermline Athletic took advantage of this situation and signed McGregor on loan for the season.

He made his debut in a 3–2 league defeat to Kilmarnock.

He was later loaned out to St Johnstone and Dunfermline Athletic, before becoming a regular Rangers first team player at the start of the 2006–07 season.

McGregor played for Dunfermline in the 2006 Scottish League Cup final, losing to Celtic, and made 31 appearances in all competitions, keeping seven clean sheets.

With the arrival of Frenchman Paul Le Guen as manager at Rangers, McGregor was made third choice goalkeeper behind Letizi and Klos.

A pre-season cycling injury to Stefan Klos meant that McGregor started the 2006–07 season as back-up to Lionel Letizi.

When Letizi was himself injured, McGregor started the next match for Rangers, a 2–2 draw away to Kilmarnock.

McGregor was then awarded the man of the match award for his performance in Rangers Uefa Cup qualifying match against Molde.

He went on to be awarded the Scottish Premier League Player of the Month for September and was then rewarded with a new contract.

Despite his performances Le Guen still considered McGregor to be the second choice goalkeeper.

McGregor was dropped when Letizi returned from injury.

When Letizi was injured again, McGregor returned in goal and was confirmed as first choice by Le Guen even after Letizi returned from injury.

Later in the 2006–07 season McGregor was sent off during Rangers' UEFA Cup match at Ibrox against Israeli side Hapoel Tel Aviv, which they won 4–0.

After Barry Ferguson's second goal, Italian referee Matteo Trefoloni gave a straight red card to McGregor for allegedly headbutting Hapoel substitute Luciano De Bruno.

McGregor made his full international debut for Scotland in May 2007.

McGregor made over 200 appearances for Rangers, winning 11 major honours in the process, including a hat-trick of league titles in 2009, 2010 and 2011, three Scottish Cups and five Scottish League Cups.

He was suspended for two weeks by his club, and the Scottish Football Association said that McGregor would never play for Scotland again, after multiple breaches of squad discipline following Scotland's 3–0 defeat to the Netherlands on 28 March 2009.

The following year, this ban from international football was overturned by Scotland manager Craig Levein.

Following the liquidation of Rangers in 2012, McGregor exercised his legal rights to become a free agent.

He then signed a two-year contract with Beşiktaş.

After one season in Turkey, McGregor moved to Hull City.

In May 2018, McGregor signed a two-year contract with Rangers.

He made 42 appearances for Scotland in total, and announced his retirement from international play in March 2019.