One of our strangest transfer decisions of the summer at West Bromwich Albion concerned Gareth McAuley and our failure to offer him a new deal – yesterday he signed on at Rangers.
McAuley has gone on record as saying that head coach Darren Moore wanted to keep him around and given his experience and the fact that for large parts of the summer we only had a young group, that makes all the sense in the world but ultimately someone in the Boardroom was concerned about his age so a deal was never done.
Yesterday the 38-year-old signed a 12 month deal up at Rangers and will now spend the next year working with former Liverpool midfielder Steven Gerrard and given we knew he could still do a job for us in the second tier this year, it’s a fantastic move for him at this late stage in his career and most expect him to do phenomenally well north of the border.
Thanks for the brilliant service @G23mcauley , one of the most committed, consistent and genuine defenders I can recall in all my years as a Baggies fan, and an absolute decent, honorable bloke, after he met my family last season…
If you are a Gers fan, you have signed a legend— Andy Caulton (@AndyfromNewHamp) September 3, 2018
What a move for the big boy. Giant of a club. Good luck gmac.
— Dean Swingle (@dean_swingle) September 3, 2018
He's a great player look after him
— OB (@Bxrke_) September 3, 2018
All the best GMac, legend for Albion. #wba #watp https://t.co/e0FyEYzQiv
— ???????????????? (@Daws___) September 3, 2018
Gareth, Gareth McAuley Is better than JT. Rangers you’ve got a great defender there!! All the best Gareth ????????
— inderjit singh (@DesiBaggie) September 3, 2018
All the best GMac ????
— Jake (@ItsWhitehouse) September 3, 2018
All the best Gareth, great servant for West Brom and deserved 1 final contract.
— Phil Merrix (@PMerrix) September 3, 2018
Brilliant signings for you I miss him so much top class defender great in the air 39 and still a beast good look Gareth
— BenJCZ (@BenBen0609) September 3, 2018
Good luck to one of the finest centre half’s in my recent lifetime. Absolute legend. Wish @G23mcauley every success.
— Chris Payne (@ChrisPayne1212) September 3, 2018
All the best great servant for us great signing for you
— Andi Cheung (@andicheung) September 3, 2018
Glad he’s got himself sorted and he’ll have a European adventure given their participation in the Europa League this summer, but I still don’t understand letting him go.
