Player Profile - Jak Alnwick
A winter transfer window signing during season 2016/17, goalkeeper Alnwick arrived at Ibrox on 30th January 2017 for a fee believed to be in the region of £250,000.
As his surname might have suggested (Alnwick being a famous market town in Northumberland), Jak's origins were very much in the North East of England. Although starting out at Sunderland, he joined bitter rivals Newcastle United in 2008 and progressed through the youth sides before making his first team debut in December 2014. After 8 top team appearances, Jak would join League One side Port Vale in the summer of 2015 having also experienced loan spells at Gateshead and Bradford City whilst still under contract to the St. James' Park side.
Alnwick's time at Vale Park was a success and he would make 79 appearances in just over one and a half seasons prior to Rangers agreeing to meet the transfer fee required to activate a release clause within the players existing contract. Manager Mark Warburton had, for some time, been keen to add another goalkeeper to his squad in order to provide realistic competition for Wes Foderingham. As was often the case, Warburton turned to England's lower leagues for recruitment with his knowledge of young players who had excelled in Academy football but, perhaps, not progressed as quicky as expected. Having represented England at both Under-17 and Under-18 level, Jak had clearly shown a great deal of potential as a youngster. In 2011, Jak was part of England's Under-20 FIFA World Cup side where he provided backup to future Gers keeper, Jack Butland.
By the time 23 year-old Jak made his debut in the final league match of season 2016/17 (a 2-1 win over St. Johnstone in Perth), Warburton was long gone with Pedro Caixinha now in charge. It was already evident that Caixinha was looking to make wholesale changes in time for the start of season 2017/18 but a change in goalkeeping personnel was, perhaps, not a major priority.
Alnwick's next appearance came in the League Cup on 9th August 2017 as Dunfermline Athletic were thrashed 6-0 at Ibrox. There was certainly a fresh look to the Rangers side with Fabio Cardoso, Bruno Alves, Graham Dorrans, Daniel Candeias and Alfredo Morelos all in the starting line up. Whilst there may have been a brief feel good factor that sunny evening, the writing was already on the wall for the hapless Caixinha with Rangers having crashed out of Europe the previous month in what was undoubtedly one of the most humiliating results in the long history of the Club.
Rangers would face Motherwell in the semi-final of the League Cup at Hampden, thus presenting a huge opportunity of reaching the Final and potentially ending the long wait for silverware. It surely also provided Caixinha with a last chance to save his job. With Alnwick once again in goal due to him being the choice for Cup competitions, Rangers crashed 2-0. The keeper looked less than decisive for Motherwell's opener, caught underneath an in swinging corner which was eventually scrambled home by the Lanarkshire sides in form striker Louis Moult. The contest was ended when Moult beat the off side trap before lobbing Alnwick from more than 20 yards. Despite being an excellent finish, there were question marks over the starting position of the Rangers goalkeeper who appeared to be caught somewhat in 'no man's land'. For the avoidance of doubt, it was a terrible performance from the entire Rangers side who appeared to freeze on the big occasion and allowed their opponents to muscle them out of the game. Caixinha was sacked later that same month.
A fleeting resurgence under caretaker manager Graeme Murty proved to be a false dawn with Alnwick playing in Scottish Cup wins over Fraserburgh and Falkirk. The fall out of a dismal Scottish Cup Semi Final defeat to Celtic (Alnwick was not selected despite it being a Cup tie) were already being aired in public by the time Hearts visited Ibrox on 22nd April 2018. Rangers won the match 2-1 with Jak making his first league appearance of the season but it was abundantly clear Murty had lost the dressing room. The team headed to Parkhead the following week with Alnwick having to pick the ball out the net on five occasions as Rangers crumbled for the second time in 14 days. It was, unsurprisingly, the end for Murty with Jimmy Nicholl and Jonatan Johansson now asked to take first team duties for the final weeks of the season.
Alnwick remained in goals for those remaining games with Foderingham missing though injury. The final match of the campaign would see Alnwick ship five goals for the second time in just four games as Hibernian could still only manage a point in a ten goal thriller! By this time, it was announced that Steven Gerrard would be in place as Rangers manager for the start of season 2018/19. The arrival of Gerrard would also mark the return of former Rangers number one, Allan McGregor.
Still under contract but clearly surplus to requirements, Alnwick was sent out on loan to Scunthorpe United during season 2018/19 and then Blackpool for season 2019/20. His time at Blackpool ended prematurely when he suffered an arm injury. Jak was released from Rangers at the end of his contract but remained in Scotland, signing with St. Mirren before moving to Cardiff City of the English Championship.
Alnwick conceded 17 goals during 11 first team appearances for Rangers, securing 3 shout outs in the process. Given that 10 of the 17 goals came in those referenced matches at Parkhead and Easter Road it is probably fair to say that those statistics look harsh. The shambolic team performances in those two games were by no means down to Alnwick's display on the day.
by Rick Plews
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by Rick Plews
