Higgins worked under the new Rangers caretaker for two years at Clyde – and knows exactly what makes Ferguson tick. Sean Higgins would never have believed he’d see a day where he’d love playing for Barry Ferguson. And it’s got nothing to do with the fact he grew up a Celtic fan with a hefty aversion to seeing the Rangers legend lifting trophies.
The former Dundee and Ross County striker was one of Ferguson’s biggest signings as Clyde boss after he’d turned part-time in the latter stages of his career. Seeing his old manager take the reins at Ibrox this week was a surprise – but not half as much of a shock as seeing him take on the role with the Bully Wee over a decade ago.Tonight at Kilmarnock Ferguson gets underway for real as Gers’ new caretaker boss alongside his trusted former team mates Neil McCann, Billy Dodds and Allan McGregor. It’s a quartet Higgins knows well. As he puts it: he’s worked with three – and dinked the other. The 40-year-old was a team mate of McCann’s at Dundee while Dodds was assistant manager at Dens. And McGregor was on the wrong end of a cheeky finish off Higgins’ boot over two decades ago. But it was under Ferguson at Clyde that he really had his eyes opened to professionalism and standards. Those are non-negotiables he insists will come as a rude awakening for any member of the Rangers dressing room that thinks he can coast. But Higgins also reckons Ferguson might need to LOWER his expectations from his own silverware-laden playing days. He told Record Sport : “I didn’t think Barry Ferguson would ever be my manager. Let’s be honest. When you look at his playing career, I was just as shocked as everybody else that he took the Clyde job. “I was a big Celtic fan growing up but you put that to the side. Okay I didn’t like him at Rangers because he was so successful! That’s just normal, as a football fan. That’s credit to him. You admire him as a player, what he’s done.
“I think people forget how good he was. I think he’s one of the greatest Scottish midfielders of all time. Sometimes that might be detrimental to his management style because the standards are so high, the expectations are so high because of the standard that he played in and the teams that he played in.“He’ll never see that again. He’ll never ever have that on par with him or on par with the players that he played with. His expectations will need to lower, I think, for him to be successful in a short period of time. But he’ll want to go there and make sure he puts his stamp on things and makes a difference.”
Be the first to comment