EVERYONE had their say except the most important man of all. Connor Goldson won't offer advice to those who now find themselves in a similar position but he will set the record straight on his Ibrox past, present and future.
The word on the street and the feeling in the stands was that Goldson would leave Rangers last summer. As the weeks ticked by and no contract was signed, it was seen as a done deal by a support that had resigned themselves to losing a hero of 55 and a stalwart of the run to Seville.
His motivation is medals not money, memories of glorious occasions rather than days out in the Premier League. Goldson was happy on and off the park in Glasgow and Rangers offered him everything he needs and wants in personal and professional senses.
Goldson knocked back the contract that was put on the table in September. From that point on, it was never discussed again as Rangers embarked on that Europa League run and lifted the Scottish Cup.
Those fixtures proved to be the last ones for Calvin Bassey and Joe Aribo as they headed for the exit door. Goldson never followed, though, and a new four-year contract was signed on his first day back in Glasgow after a summer break with his family.
"There was a few other people talking and, I don’t know... I was actually speaking about it this morning," Goldson during a wide-ranging sit down at Auchenhowie. "You look at the people who have left the club – are they happy?
"My wife said to me, ‘you could have more money but are you going to play?’ She knows what I’m like when I don’t play. She was settled in Glasgow, the kids are settled.
"Our older boy has just gone to school and we have just had a baby. It was a case of where am I and is the whole family going to be happy.
"We felt this was the happiest place. In that first week Rangers came back with another contract and we said yes.
"We came back off holiday and I signed it on the first day back. It was never a case that I was 100 per cent leaving but I had to make the decision not just for me but for the whole family.
"Whether that was that we go back to England so we can be close to our families or we stay here where we are all settled at the minute and we play games of football at a better club where you have to win. You get used to winning.
"I don’t think I could now play for a game that wins once every three, four or five games.
"I just don’t think I could mentally take it. Because I lose or draw a game here and it’s like the end of the world.
"I’m fortunate that I now have kids and they separate football from real life but I just don’t think I could have been happy losing and drawing games of football. That was a big part of my decision to stay."
Goldson had one concrete offer from January onwards. His feeling at the time was that the club that made it wouldn't win many games and he follows that up by saying 'that’s turned out to be true…'
He has no regrets about committing the best years of his career to Rangers but there is a consternation at how the situation was played out as he was kept away from the media and was unable to have his say on his future. Assumptions were made and views entrenched while Goldson was forced to keep his counsel.
"Yes it did," was the straightforward response when asked if it frustrated him at not being able to set the record straight. "The worst thing about it is you can’t say anything.
"When I played okay then it felt like the the fans thought, ‘he’s not trying because he doesn’t want to be here’. If I had a good game, ‘he’s only playing well because he wants to move’. That wasn’t the case.
"I am so dedicated to football. Every single day I work so hard to be at my best. Obviously I am going to make mistakes because I am human and bad games are going to happen when you play every three days.
"I just didn’t like that perception that the fans thought I was leaving and that I wasn’t trying or didn’t care. I care more than anyone. I always have. That’s what hurt me the most.
"For everything I was giving I felt like it was getting thrown back at me that I didn’t want to be here. That was never the case."
History is now repeating itself at Ibrox. The protagonists central to the story - Ryan Kent and Alfredo Morelos - are different but the situations are similar to the one that Goldson lived through now that they are in the final stages of their current contracts.
Opinions are split amongst supporters over the futures of two integral players in Michael Beale's squad. The manager has expressed a desire to keep them both for his Rangers rebuild but the opinions and motivations of the individuals matter most of all.
"No, not really," Goldson said when asked if he would offer advice to those in that position this season. "Listen, would I love them to stay? Yes. But they have to make their own decision for their careers.
"I didn’t really want anyone speaking to me about it. It was my decision to make with my wife and my family.
"It’s their decision. Listen they are good players and if they want to stay we will be really happy to have them here.
"But if they don’t then Rangers Football Club has to move on and move on quickly to get new players who are ready to win because that’s what we are here for."
That ambition has been the driver for Goldson since he joined up with Steven Gerrard's side in the summer of 2018. The Premiership title will evade him once again this term but a League Cup final with Celtic and Scottish Cup campaign offer opportunities to add to a medal collection that should be greater in number than it is.
The defender will be nearly 34 by the time his current deal expires. His past proves that it is never wise to look too far into the future, but does he feel content enough at Ibrox to spend the rest of his playing career here?
"Yes, I do," Goldson said. "I am really happy. I feel like I am in a really good place, physically and mentally.
"Just before my injury I felt I was playing to a really high standard, the Liverpool game away and even at home before I got injured I was just getting to my best form of the season.
"That happened and I feel like I have come back in exactly the same place. I know my body, I love my club and what it represents.
"I love the pressure that it gives me on a day to day basis to work hard to be even better. I am 30 years old but I want to continue to improve and play at the highest level I can."
Goldson is already a hero of his time. His part in winning 55 enshrined that status and his stature on and off the park sets him apart from many of those that he has played with during his Ibrox career.
Another couple of hundred appearances in blue are certainly not out of the question. It is silverware that Goldson needs and wants, though, as he played down the notion of him joining the true greats in the illustrious history of Rangers.
"Not really because to be a legend at this club you need to have won a lot more than I have won," Goldson said when asked if that was in his mind. "People have been here for two years in completely different times and have won more medals than I have.
"So I need to win a lot more trophies to be regarded in that way. But the same token, am I proud that I have played 250 games in four and a half years? Of course I am.
"I came here on the back of two years not playing many games. The first reason to come here was to play as often as I could.
"When I first signed people questioned my physical capabilities and what I could produce. My numbers speak for themselves."
