Steve Bruce moved to solve Hull City’s goalkeeping dilemma earlier this week with the acquisition of Allan McGregor from Turkish side Besiktas on a three-year deal. The 31-year-old makes his way to the KC Stadium for an undisclosed fee and his arrival continues the recent spending spree which has also brought Curtis Davies and Ahmed Elmohamady to the club:
With last season’s number one David Stockdale now back at parent club Fulham, Bruce has been desperately scouring the market for a first-choice stopper. Although the Tigers have been linked with the likes of Kaspar Schmeichel and former Wigan man Chris Kirkland during the summer, McGregor admitted to the club’s official website that he’s been aware of a possible move for a number of weeks now:
“I got a call a while ago about the interest from Hull City and things progressed from there. Holidays stalled things a little bit, as they do at this time of year, but everything is done now and I’m just really happy to be here. I kept an eye on what was going on back here while I was playing in Turkey and I actually watched the last few minutes of Hull City’s game against Cardiff on the final day of the season – it was exciting. I’ve had a few chats with the manager here and I really had belief and confidence in what he was saying about the club. The chance to play in the Premier League is also a massive thing and I can’t wait to get started here.”
The History
A product of the Glasgow Rangers youth academy, McGregor’s career began back in 2001-02 with a couple of appearances for the first-team at the age of 20. He failed to play a single minute of the following treble-winning season and after featuring four times during 2003-04, spent a couple of years on loan at St Johnstone and Dunfermline. By 2006-07, however, he was installed as number one at Ibrox and picked up the Players Player of the Year Award as a result of his displays between the sticks under Paul Le Guen.
McGregor played 196 times over six seasons as the ‘Gers first-choice keeper, winning 11 major honours over his time at the Govan club, before making his way to Besiktas last summer after Ally McCoist’s side were relegated to the Scottish Third Division. Over a single season in Turkey he produced five clean sheets in 26 matches (his replacement managed three clean sheets in eight matches by comparison) and helped his side to a third place finish before Bruce clinched his signature earlier this week.
On the international stage, McGregor has turned out for Scotland Under 21s on six occasions and has also received 29 caps for the senior side. Although his heroics between the sticks have been crucial to Scotland at times, his overall number of appearances would surely be greater if he hadn’t been banned for over a year due to alcohol-related “multiple breaches of squad discipline” back in April 2009.
The Prospects
McGregor certainly seems guaranteed starts for the season ahead and as a first-choice stopper for one of the three promoted teams, can be expected to be priced in the budget bracket across the Fantasy games. Given that each of last term’s main promoted keepers came in at 4.5 in Fantasy Premier League (FPL), a similar price for the Scot looks on the cards, then.
Looking at their defensive displays in the Championship in 2012/13, the Tigers registered 16 clean sheets last term (10 at home, six away), though questions remain over whether Bruce’s 3-5-2 system may be picked apart in the top-flight. While plenty of saves are expected, McGregor’s Fantasy potential could also be determined by Ahmed Elmohamady’s classification in the Fantasy games – the Egyptian produced three goals and nine assists from a right wing-back role and, if listed as a defender, will surely offer us the most appealing route into Bruce’s backline.
For those eyeing up the Hull keeper as a possible rotation option, the opening schedule has certainly been kind to the promoted club. Their first six home games welcome Norwich, Cardiff, West Ham, Villa, Sunderland and Palace to the KC in a run that takes us up to Gameweek 12 – as mentioned in a previous article, Hull and Palace alternate home/away across the entire season, though for those looking for a short-term fix, West Brom, Norwich and West Ham offer up a strong goalkeeper combination over the opening six fixtures of the season.
10 years, 10 months agoMight be an interesting pick 🙂