Football: McCall may be part of exodus

THE Rangers stalwart Stuart McCall has admitted he could join the Ibrox exodus this summer, after ending a season without a medal for the first time in seven years. The 33-year-old midfielder still has a year left on his contract - but has yet to learn whether he is part of the future plans of the incoming Dutch coach Dick Advocaat.

McCall was distraught after Saturday's Tennents Scottish Cup final defeat to Hearts - a last bow in a blue shirt for half-a-dozen Rangers men, including Brian Laudrup, Richard Gough and Andy Goram. The former Everton player admitted that a return to his native Yorkshire was likely.

McCall said: "Losing the final and the league has soured it for a lot of us but I don't think we could have done any more against Hearts, it just wasn't meant to be. It was a really sad way to end it all and I think it's probably time for me to call it a day at Rangers now.

"Nothing is organised and we'll see what Dick Advocaat says but I think the time is right now. Everyone else is leaving and it feels right that I should move on too."

McCall has already been linked with a possible player-coach's role at Barnsley, although he is one of a number of players who will speak with the Ibrox chairman, David Murray, this week before deciding his future. Ally McCoist - whose late goal in Saturday's final after coming off the bench showed his goalscoring instincts are still intact - is another.

Despite the player's protestations that he is on his way out of Ibrox, Murray insisted that McCoist has come to no firm decisions yet on where his future lies. "I've had a brief word with him and we will talk again this week," the chairman said. "Everything was being left because we wanted to concentrate on the Cup final."

The French striker, David Zitelli, has declared his interest in joining the Ibrox club. The 27-year-old scored against Rangers for Strasbourg in this season's Uefa Cup but is now out of contract with the German club, Karlsruhe. The Borussia Dortmund goalkeeper Stefan Klos, who is involved in a legal battle to cancel his contract with his German club, is another Rangers target as Advocaat starts planning his squad at his new employers.