Scottish Premiership boss suffers major blow ahead of Rangers test as Derek McInnes mentality switch hailed

Kilmarnock boss Neil McCann is facing a goalkeeping crisis ahead of his side’s fixture against Rangers this weekend after confirming talks with former Dundee United stopper Dave Richards had broken down.

McCann, 52, revealed that he will be without first-choice stopper Max Stryek for an extended period of time due to a knee issue, and had hoped to bring Richards to the club on a short-term deal to bolster his options between the sticks. Calum Ferrie is the club’s only available senior goalkeeper, meaning rookie Corey Armour will be on the bench for the clash with Rangers.

Dave Richards' move to Kilmarnock has collapsed, the club have confirmed. | SNS Group

It mirrors a situation Kilmarnock dealt with last season, when young goalkeeper Eddie Beach was forced to deputise after a heart issue sidelined Stryjek. Celtic’s Tobi Oluwayemi was later drafted in on an emergency loan, which the club subsequently extended on several occasions.

“Max is out for quite a considerable bit of time,” confirmed McCann: "If I know Max, given his last return to duty, he'll be pushing so hard to get back as quickly as possible, but it'll be a huge hole in our squad just now. It was round about this time last year when Max actually stepped out with his heart, so I feel so sorry for him because I actually feel as a group and the entirety of the team was starting to hit a wee bit of form and Max was one of those. It’s really tough on the boy.

“There's been a wee bit of a situation arisen that is out of our control [with the deal for Richards], and was outside our knowledge actually as well, but it's been pointed out to us. I don't want to go into too much detail just now, because I think it would be unfair on the boy himself, but unfortunately he's not able to join us. We’ll address that. But we have been dealt an unlucky blow again. We’ll search the market, but at this time of year it’s pretty difficult. But we’ll do our job and we’ll get somebody to fill that void.”

Ahead of the clash in Govan, the Kilmarnock head coach praised his former team’s mentality and admitted it’ll be a tough challenge at Ibrox as they look to end their six-game winning run. McCann, who spent time at Rangers as both a player and first-team coach, hailed Derek McInnes’ ability to turn around the club’s fortunes after a difficult start to the campaign.

“I just feel like they're in a brilliant place probably mentally, which is, anybody that's been involved with Rangers will tell you, that's a big part of the job there,” said McCann. “So we know we'll get a really difficult game coming up at Ibrox. We need to be at our best if we want to get something from the game."