Frank McAvennie believes Chris McKee could leave Glasgow Rangers after being sent off for using foul and abusive language while on loan at Brechin City.
The Lowdown: McKee accused of abuse
McKee moved on loan to Scottish League Two side Brechin in January, making 14 appearances in all competitions for the club (Transfermarkt).
Earlier this month, he started for Brechin in the play-off final against Kelty Hearts, who eventually prevailed. McKee, though, failed to last the whole 90 minutes, with him instead being sent off during the first half following an alleged homophobic outburst.
The Latest: McAvennie thinks he could depart
Speaking to Football Insider, McAvennie suggested it could be the end of the road for the 19-year-old at Ibrox. He said:
“A lot of people fling crap at Rangers.
“Nothing has been confirmed or reported yet. He’s not been charged by the SFA.
“It could stick with him for his career. Mud sticks. It takes a while to shake something like that off.
“He’s a young boy and if he’s guilty he needs to be educated. Things get said on the football pitch but some things just don’t belong on there.
“Things are sometimes said in the heat of the moment, I’m not justifying what he may have said.
“We have to see what happens but if he’s guilty, they could terminate his deal. They face a really tough decision on keeping him.”
The Verdict: Difficult decision
As McAvennie says, if McKee is found guilty, Rangers face a difficult decision in regards to whether they should keep him at the club. In recent months, there has been a significant desire to push back against all forms of abuse, and the Gers themselves have been involved in one unsavoury incident when Glen Kamara was racially abused by Slavia Prague’s Ondrej Kudela.
Whether McKee, who Noel Whelan previously said was “worth his weight in gold” (Football Insider), has a promising future ahead of him is irrelevant.
At just 19 years of age, McKee is still a boy – we must ask whether he should really be tarred for the rest of his career because of one very poor choice of words. Some kind of punishment must be given, of that there is no doubt, but losing his contract may feel extremely harsh.
In other news, Rangers fans are livid at this journalist’s tweets.
