McLeish optimistic over Henchoz move

Alex McLeish has insisted the recruitment of Liverpool defender Stephane Henchoz to bolster the Rangers defence is still a possibility.

The Ibrox side badly missed departed defender Jean-Alain Boumsong again as Chris Sutton and John Hartson seized on lapses to send the McLeish’s side crashing out of the Tennent’s Scottish Cup with a 2-1 defeat.

That prompted an honest reaction from their manager, who said: “We need to strengthen there because if anything happens to those two guys (Marvin Andrews and Zurab Khizanishvili) then we would be working on empty almost in that position.”

Both were at fault as Sutton latched onto a Hartson flick to open the scoring and were again caught short as the Welshman fired a second-half winner.

McLeish admitted he is still looking at a few options but he is still optimistic of landing the 30-year-old Swiss player after initial negotiations with him and his agent.

Henchoz also has other options but contrary to reports stating the player was on his way elsewhere, the Ibrox boss is not ruling out landing the former Blackburn man.

“The first round of negotiations have taken place and the doors have been left open for the both of us,” said McLeish.

“We are looking at a few other options but there’s no way I am going to give you news that could rebound on us so I don’t want to say too much.”

McLeish felt his defenders could have done better for both goals but he insisted he would have been concerned about Hartson and Sutton even if Boumsong was still as the club.

The Aberdeen and Scotland legend feel that Celtic’s front two are “cute” when it comes to winning free-kicks but his own side are not so apt at dealing with them.

“I’m disappointed with that side,” added McLeish. “We have a blame culture here where people point the finger.

“I am not here to criticise individuals but they were basic goals that we lost no doubt about that but I was pleased with a lot of the play and a lot of the performances.

“When you play against Celtic you know you are playing against two quality strikers and they don’t push the boat out to keep John Hartson if he is not good at the top level.

“Sutton is as well and they know how to win free-kicks and know where the back of the net is to our cost today.

“They would have been a concern for me even if Boumsong was playing. We wouldn’t be guaranteed of anything even if Boumsong was there.

“They have troubled bigger and better clubs than us.”

McLeish did take some heart from the debuts of new signings Bojan Djordjic and Thomas Buffel, who came on during the second half.

He said: Djordjic did really well because he was in a tough encounter so it was a good debut from him.

“Thomas showed some good touches when he came and maybe should have done better from Steven Thompson’s ball late on.

“But that is their first taste of it and I am sure there are more things to come from them.

“Bojan came off as he had a wee bit of double vision after getting a blow on his head.”

Rangers have also been linked with a move for former star Barry Ferguson but McLeish strenuously denied that he had made any efforts to resign the midfielder.

He asked: “What substance? We haven’t made any approach to Blackburn for Barry and I don’t want to talk Mark Hughes’ players when they are still in contract.

“I have nothing to add to that and I haven’t spoken to his agent.”