Glasgow Rangers lost the final Old Firm game of the season in emphatic fashion at Ibrox.
Rangers’ Kenny Miller celebrates scoring
Derek Johnstone has suggested that Rangers handing Kenny Miller a new contract at Ibrox is the one positive that the Gers can take from last weekend, the Evening Times reports.
Pedro Caixinha’s men went into weekend knowing that they were under a tremendous amount of pressure to secure a positive result in the final Old Firm game of the season, having barely turned up for the Scottish Cup semi-final the previous week and having failed to win any of the previous five meetings, securing just one point along the way.
The Light Blues were boosted headed into the game with the news that Miller had brought an end to any speculation surrounding his future by signing a new one-year deal with the Gers.
However, the sixth meeting with Celtic this season saw the Light Blues suffer their second 5-1 defeat. And following the result, Johnstone has lauded the news surrounding Miller as it has given supporters a very small crumb of comfort.
Rangers manager Pedro Caixinha
“The news that Kenny Miller has signed a new contract was the only positive of the weekend for Rangers. I said months ago I was sure he would get a deal and it is good that he has now put pen-to-paper and committed his future for another year,” he told Evening Times.
“When Pedro came in, he could have had doubts about the merits of retaining the services a 37-year-old, and we will have to wait and see what he does with Clint Hill.
“Having watched Kenny in the last few weeks, he will have seen what he is all about and he has made the right decision to keep him on at Ibrox.”
While Caixinha would have surely preferred it not to be the case, Miller has certainly been Rangers’ best player over the course of the campaign – perhaps with Clint Hill as a close second – with 10 goals to his name in the Scottish Premiership, and thus, handing him a new contract certainly made sense.
The Portuguese may be able to do the business during the summer that allows him to rely on the veteran a lot less next season, but with none of the other strikers really capturing the imagination this term, the fact that he can rely on Miller to make an impact if given the chance means that it is undoubtedly a smart move keeping him around.
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