Connor Goldson has revealed Rangers paid half of his final year's contract to get him off the wage bill, as he detailed the bitter end to his six-year Ibrox career.
The 33-year-old defender, signed by Steven Gerrard for £3million from Brighton in 2018, won three major honours in Scotland and reached the Europa League Final. But the former title-winning star was deemed surplus to requirements against boss Philippe Clement's wishes as the old regime looked to slash its highest earners.
Goldson's shock at Ibrox exit
Speaking on the Open Goal podcast, Goldson described being told his contract was too high and that the club wanted him to leave. He said: "I think it comes from above. First, it comes from the manager. He pulled me into the office said the club say my contract was too high and they want me to leave."
He added: "And I was like, 'well, I'm not leaving.' I feel like I earned the contract for what I've given to you. And from what I've given you for six years - I killed myself to give you everything I've got - you can't now come back to me and go, 'ah, sorry, we don't want it.'"
Despite his resistance, Goldson's head was turned by an attractive proposal to move to Cyprus with Aris. He revealed Rangers were so desperate to offload him that they paid to get him off the books.
Rangers paid to offload defender
Goldson said: "I couldn't believe it, and I probably should never ever say this, but the contract I was getting in Cyprus, the owner was like, 'I'm going to need money off Rangers.' So Rangers paid for me to leave. I know that's going to be mental. But Rangers paid half of my last year's contract here for me to leave."
He added: "So then you're like, 'they want me to leave.' So I was like, 'what can I do?'"
The defender also described the moment he left the squad during a pre-season friendly in Birmingham, after his agent texted to confirm the deal was done. He asked Clement if he could go home to see his family before travelling, and was told: "Yeah, no problem." When he asked how he would get back, Clement replied: "I don't know."
Emotional farewell and lasting fondness
Goldson said: "To be fair, he was ledge with me. He was like, 'I didn't want this to happen but the club said it was going to keep last year's team and add a couple more players and was really going to attack Celtic. But now they've completely gone against that and they're saying that all the ones on decent money need to go and I need to start again.'"
He added: "So I was like, 'thank you for everything. I went in, players were having lunch, and I did a speech saying thanks very much and I remember I went back to my room and I cried my eyes out.'"
Goldson booked a train home, with James Tavernier, Scott Wright and about five people walking him to the station. He said: "Loads of Rangers fans were coming into Birmingham and I'm walking with a little backpack, wash bag onto a train and that was the last time."
He added: "It's mad because half of the team weren't there because they played Man Utd so I never got to say bye to them, never got to go back to the training ground and say bye to any staff or anything."
Now at Apollon Limassol, Goldson said: "I'm not saying I'm anything now but I was nothing really before Rangers and it made me a man. It made me understand professional football, made me understand like, the elite levels of football and professionalism and playing on Thursdays and Sundays. It takes you like a year to get used to that. I loved everything about it. The pressure of it, loved it."
