When the news from Ibrox made it out here to Dubai I was as surprised as most Rangers fans.
But I was delighted to hear Connor Goldson had signed a new four-year deal at the club.
It’s a brilliant bit of business.
It came off the back of Steven Davis extending his contract as well, which is more positive news.
Davo might not play every week next season like Goldson will.
But his presence keeps the right mentality, attitude and standards in that dressing-room.
Those two players are key and maybe Allan McGregor won’t be too far away from putting pen to paper either.
He’s actually over in Dubai as well, so I might grab a word and try and get him to commit as well.
The Goldson one is huge though, because he’s been a mainstay of the team for four years now.
He’s played 223 games in that time – all of them starts – and the ones he’s missed, you can count on one hand.
That’s tremendous value in anyone’s language.
There have been a lot of opinions on Connor and a bit of criticism along the way. That’s fine, everyone is
entitled to a view.
But all I know is that two top managers in Steven Gerrard and Giovanni van Bronckhorst played the guy every week.
That tells me a lot about the player, the person and the character in that dressing room.
Connor reminds me a bit of Davie Weir, who I played alongside at Rangers.
The Englishman is a bit younger because Walter Smith brought Davie to the club at 35 – but he was there for the next five years.
Weir was playing in the Champions League aged 40.
Goldson isn’t at that age yet but he has a similar influence on this team.
He puts himself up there to be shot at and will lead and perform on a weekly basis. When I played, I came across guys who’d had a 15-year career and only played 300 games.
He’s had four years at Rangers and started 223 times!
To get a guy like that who’s so reliable, robust and talented is brilliant business.
I don’t know Connor well enough personally but I listen to what other people say about him.
When a guy like Gerrard, who set such high standards himself as a player, talks him up and picks him every week, it speaks volumes.
It’s the same with Gio. Given the players he played with, the clubs he was at and the trophies he won?
Yet he wants Goldson in his side every week. That’s enough for me.
I can see what he brings to the team, how team-mates respond to him and the demands he puts on those around him.
He’s vice-captain for a reason. Had he been at the club earlier, he might have been skipper himself.
In that dressing room now, you have a captain in James Tavernier, a vice-captain in Goldson, an ex-captain in Davis and a guy like McGregor who has won multiple trophies and reached two European finals.
They don’t need an armband – they’re leaders in their own right.
And for Rangers to lose any of them this summer will have been a blow because of what they bring to the team.
I didn’t see it coming with Connor. I thought he’d go back to England for family reasons or to play in the Premier League.
I expected him to go.
At the same time, I held on to the hope that winning a league, a Scottish Cup and playing in a Europa League Final would make him want more.
And clearly it has. It looks like that’s the type of guy he is.
It has taken time to get over the line. But this isn’t a one-year extension.
It’s a four-year contract so it’s a huge commitment from the club and from Connor.
If he’s there for eight years – and keeps up this consistency – he could become a proper Rangers legend.
He’s clearly happy and settled in Glasgow and I think the events of the past few weeks have had an impact.
The term I’ve heard used before is that Rangers get “under your skin”.
I left the place three times and every time it left a massive hole in my life.
I know other players who feel the same. It’s a gap that’s hard to fill.
Maybe Connor has been smarter than a lot of people and realised that.
The grass isn’t always greener, even if you have the riches of the Premier League.
I don’t know where he could have gone in England’s Premier League, but it would likely have meant a relegation battle.
Maybe he wants to be a winner, to lift more trophies and have a demand on him to be at his best every week.
With how he carries himself and how he’s performed for four years, I think he’s that guy.
And for Gio and Ross Wilson, it makes the recruitment a lot easier this summer as they’ve got their main man there already.
They’ve also recruited from Hearts a young, hungry Scottish centre-back in John Souttar who’s an international player now.
If Souttar is ready to make the big step up at Rangers and play alongside Goldson, he’s got a brilliant partner who will let him know exactly what’s required to play for the club.
By Connor re-signing, it gives the squad stability because there’s been a lot of talk about overhauls and surgery to reshape the side.
But Souttar has already been identified to strengthen the defence.
Along with Goldson, Calvin Bassey, Tavernier, a fit Filip Helander and young Leon King, it’s now a strong area of the team.
That area doesn’t need any more work now.
And maybe that Rangers rebuild everyone was talking about might not be as big as we first thought.
