THERE would have been few complaints amongst the Rangers fans when Allan McGregor returned to the club on a two-year deal and the keeper has proven to be the best bit of business that was done this summer.

He has been superb all season for Rangers and his performance against Villarreal on Thursday night was right up there. He was terrific.

The one-on-one saves he made in the first half kept his side in it at crucial moments and he was Man of the Match by some distance. What a night it was for him.

If you are a keeper, you hope that you won’t be called into action that often and that the players in front of you will do their jobs in a defensive sense.

But we all know that mistakes can be made and that was the case against Villarreal. When that happened, Allan was there when called upon and made a series of really important and really impressive saves.

It is his job to keep the ball out of the net but there is doing that and there is being exceptional and that is what Allan was in a massive game in front of a full house at Ibrox.

Knowing that you have a keeper of his ability behind you will spread confidence right throughout the team and players know that they always have that last line of defence behind them.

That doesn’t mean that you can make mistakes all the time, though. But having someone with the standards that Allan has in the team will certainly focus a few minds when errors are being committed.

With all respect to the players that came in to Rangers in the summer, and this is the best squad that we have had for a number of years now, they haven’t played at the level that Allan has for a number of years.

A lot of them haven’t had to play three games in a week for long spells of a season, haven’t experienced the pressure of being at a club like Rangers where you have to win all the time.

Allan McGregor has. He has been there, seen it and done it and that is why the manager has spoken so positively about his influence off the park as well as on it.

He has been in Europe with Rangers, he has won leagues and cups and he knows what it is all about. He is an experienced player in that team and he can tell people what it is like and what the standards are.

He is a great goalkeeper and that is the most important thing for the manager but he will be looking for Allan to have a big impact on the rest of the squad this season as well.

He is a bit nonchalant about it all and he takes everything in his stride but the fans absolutely love him and they wouldn’t swap him for any keeper in Scotland.

When you think about some of the players that left Ibrox all those years ago, there was a chance he would get a hard time from some supporters. It is exactly the opposite though and they hold him in such high esteem.

Steven Gerrard said the other day that the fans should enjoy Allan while they can and the one thing that will ensure he goes on as long as possible is the work ethic he has.

Steven makes sure the players train hard every day and with real intensity and that is what Allan is all about. He works his socks off and he learns all the time.

They day you go in and you don’t give your all and you don’t learn anything, that is the day that you chuck it. Thankfully for Rangers, Allan is nowhere near that stage.

He is in great shape and who is to say he couldn’t go on and play until he is 40? Keepers have done it before and there is no reason why Allan couldn’t play well beyond his current contract with Rangers.

If you are a goalie at Rangers, you can’t help but learn from someone like Allan and they will all be loving the chance to see how he works. But the task of getting him out of the team looks almost impossible right now.