There are some things in life which seem destined to remain beyond our comprehension for all time.
Scottish football’s greatest mystery of recent years concerns a club and a player who have long appeared to have been the perfect match for each other yet never got together and presumably now never will.
What is it exactly that Rangers have seen in Lawrence Shankland down the years to prevent them from striking a deal which so many would have felt entirely logical?
It’s a question for a multitude of managers and sporting directors who have evidently identified a flaw in the forward’s game that few others can. How curious it is that such a prolific marksman in the Scottish top flight has been deemed to be not up to the job.
This has long been a source of bewilderment. Rest assured, if Shankland makes the difference at Tynecastle on Monday to all but end Rangers’ title hopes, we’ll hear a great deal about it again. And little wonder.
Born in Glasgow into a family with leanings towards the blue half of the city, Shankland has seemed a hand-in-glove fit for Rangers since he started tormenting defenders as he came through the ranks at Queen’s Park.
Lawrence Shankland has been a revelation for Hearts this season
The Hearts striker celebrates one of his many vital goals against Livingston
Shankland enjoys a dramatic Edinburgh derby victory over nine-man Hibs last weekend
He didn’t make the breakthrough at Aberdeen under Derek McInnes but scored barrel loads of goals on loan at Dunfermline, St Mirren and Morton. He continued to rip it up across two seasons with Ayr United, winning PFA Scotland’s Players’ Player of the Year award.
At Dundee United, he won promotion, established himself as a Premiership standard player and earned a move to Belgian side Beerschot.
Throughout this journey, Rangers had countless opportunities to make him theirs for a comparative song.
These were the days when players of the ilk of Kevin Kyle, Joe Garner and Joe Dodoo had pulled on a light blue jersey. Shankland remained invisible in plain sight.
By the time the player’s representatives made it known that he was wanting to return to Scotland in 2022, then manager Giovanni van Bronckhorst was preparing to move on Cedric Itten and needed a new face to compete with the increasingly unreliable Alfredo Morelos and the talented but injury-prone Kemar Roofe.
The Dutchman looked at Shankland and looked away. Instead, he signed Antonio Colak from PAOK for £1.8million.
The Croatian wasn’t a bad player. He managed to score 18 goals and finished joint top scorer alongside James Tavernier. But he just wasn’t the answer.
It was to be another trophyless season for Rangers. Van Bronckhorst lost his job in the November with Michael Beale coming in.
Meanwhile, 50 miles along the M8, Shankland settled into life in Gorgie just fine. He scored his first Hearts goal against Hibs, was named captain after an injury to Craig Gordon and became the first player in maroon to net 20 goals in a season since John Robertson.
Although he’d signed a three-year contract, Rangers had the money to buy him if they wanted to.
Seemingly handed the run of the place, Beale spent £13m on a new front line of Danilo, Cyriel Dessers and Sam Lammers. Only the much-maligned Dessers made any appreciable impact.
Beale paid the price, sacked in October with Philippe Clement replacing him.
By January 2024, speculation that Rangers would finally make their move for Shankland reached fever pitch. Instead, the Belgian signed Fabio Silva on loan from Wolves. He managed two league goals.
Despite starting like a train under Clement, Rangers lost momentum and ultimately came up short again to Celtic in the title race, missing out by eight points.
It is mystifying to many why Rangers did not take a chance on Shankland
Shankland’s form at Hearts rubbed salt in the wounds. He netted 31 goals in 47 appearances, breaking through the 50-goal barrier for the Gorgie men in less than 18 months.
One man who knows a thing or two about scoring goals for Rangers simply could not fathom why his former club hadn’t moved heaven and earth to get Shankland rather than the likes of Silva.
‘I actually think if they had gone and got Shankland, I think they might have won the league, I genuinely do,’ said Ibrox legend Ally McCoist.
It’s the contributions to Rangers’ cause of the likes of Scottish talents like McCoist which made this long-standing aversion to Shankland even more bizarre.
McCoist’s eye for goal was evident when he started out at St Johnstone. A boyhood Rangers fan, his transfer from Sunderland in 1983 for £185,000 proved to be a snip.
He netted 355 goals in all competitions across 15 years and remains the club’s record scorer.
He’s hardly the only Rangers supporter to have demonstrated that the right answers are often lying right under your nose.
Kris Boyd was the top scorer at Ibrox for four seasons after moving from Kilmarnock in 2006. Steven Naismith also had a huge impact after taking the same road.
Shankland, you would fully expect, would have also scored for fun had he been afforded the same opportunity.
Once asked why he believed Rangers never made their move at some stage despite having ample opportunity, Alan Hutton, the club’s former defender, felt there might have been a degree of ‘snobbery’ at play. There might just be something in this.
Managers and sporting directors all have certain reputations to uphold. They all like to look like the smartest kid in the class — seemingly well-connected and one step ahead of the game.
Signing Scottish players from rival clubs, a la Shankland, all feels just a little bit unglamorous. It’s utter nonsense, of course.
Clement’s insistence in recruiting the talented but temperamental Hamza Igamane last year was just another example.
Remember the Moroccan refusing to go on as a substitute at St Mirren and then spitting the dummy over his move to Lille? Shankland wouldn’t have pulled that stunt in a month of Sundays.
Shankland celebrates his goal in last month’s victory over Motherwell at Tynecastle
The previous day, the Scot had taken some flak from his Hearts’ team-mates for failing to score in a brilliant 3-3 draw with Motherwell.
As ever, he’d have the last laugh. His next two goals would come in a 2-0 win at Ibrox, a pivotal day in a season which sees his side stand on the brink of history.
Hearts can’t win the title tomorrow, but they can effectively eliminate Rangers from the race with a win.
Danny Rohl will hope that Youssef Chermiti can deliver again for him on the big stage. The striker has improved considerably after looking completely lost following his £11.5m move from Everton.
A free agent as then Ibrox sporting director Kevin Thelwell became the latest Rangers bigwig to overlook him, Shankland, as we now know, eventually extended his commitment to Hearts.
If he goes on to skipper Hearts to their first title since 1960, he’ll be the last person on earth to wonder how different things may have been. But thousands of bemused Rangers supporters will spend many years doing just that.
