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McGregor has revealed he was genuinely shocked when Rangers CEO Jim Gillespie called him out of the blue with a permanent coaching offer at Ibrox.
The Ibrox legend admits he needed “four or five days” to seriously think over the proposal before eventually agreeing to take the role.
McGregor will serve as goalkeeping coach under new manager Derek McInnes, working with new signing Ivor Pandur alongside Liam Kelly and younger keepers at the club.
This is not McGregor’s first time in a coaching capacity at Rangers, having previously joined Barry Ferguson’s interim backroom team late in the 2024/25 season.
On that occasion the role was temporary, but this time around the offer represented a permanent position, which gave McGregor considerably more pause for thought.
Two concerns weighed heavily on his mind before he accepted, namely the optics for the club and the fact he does not yet hold his coaching badges.
However, both Gillespie and McInnes provided assurances that neither issue would be a barrier, with the club committed to giving him time to earn the required qualifications.
McGregor told Rangers TV: “I was shocked when the offer came. I spoke to Jim a couple of days before they offered me the job. It was just a general chit-chat for an hour and a half, talking away.”
He explained that the conversation with Gillespie did not initially touch on the coaching role, making the formal offer days later all the more unexpected and surprising.
McGregor added: “I went away and spoke to my family and had a real good think about it. I thought about how it would look on the club and could I do it? Four or five days later I said yes.”
The former goalkeeper acknowledged that Rangers had always promised to support him into coaching during his final playing years, though at the time he remained focused solely on performing for the team.
He said: “I’d never really thought about coaching. A couple of years later when Barry phoned me, I jumped at the chance.”
McGregor drew a clear distinction between the short-term nature of the Ferguson appointment and the greater responsibility attached to this new permanent role under McInnes.
“I knew it was only three months then, just helping the boys out. This one took a bit more thought because of the process, the longer-term role, how it would look,” he said.
He continued: “Me not having my badges, having to start them. I had to think about what I would bring to that and how it would look on the club, that was important to me. But Jim said it wouldn’t be a problem.”
With those concerns put to rest, McGregor committed to a new chapter at the club he served with such distinction throughout his long playing career.
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