‘People think I’m strange because I enjoy pressure’ – Ferguson on Rangers task
Rangers interim head coach Barry Ferguson celebrates the Europa League penalty shootout win over Fenerbahce
Ferguson has steered Rangers into the quarter-finals of the Europa League
Barry Ferguson might be in his job as Rangers head coach for just four games – somehow it feels like a whole lot more – with a tumultuous fifth to come on Sunday away to Celtic.
In that short time the former Ibrox captain says he’s learned things about himself.
“I’ve been surprised that I’ve not went off my head as much,” he said, smiling. “I’ll put that down to maturity. I’m 47 now. So at some stage, you’ve got to mature.”
He was talking on Wednesday afternoon, before the bedlam-inducing night against Fenerbahce. Surely in Rangers’ history there’s never been a home loss – a record fourth in a row – that’s sparked such joyous scenes.
The surreal nature of the occasion is in keeping with a team that almost defies description at this point. Ferguson says he’s calmer now than he used to be, but his players – for good and ill – are putting his karma to the test.
“As a player, I was feisty, I was angry, but that was just me,” he said. “It was just passion. I kind of let it overstep the line at times, but that’s what happens when you’re young.
“I will lose the head from time to time, but I’ve got things that I can do to try and calm myself down. And I’ve got a good staff behind me as well, which is important.
“They’ll calm me down. As you’ve probably seen, they just give me a wee pat on the shoulder to say, ‘Right, here, calm it.'”
Having seen off Fenerbahce on penalties, there’s another howitzer up next.
As his team prepare for the biggest domestic challenge by far, Ferguson opened up on other things that have changed since he took over from Philippe Clement, a position he will hold until the end of the season.
Now that he’s on the inside, has he altered his view on any of the Rangers players he maybe once criticised and now coaches? “A number of them,” he replied. Cyriel Dessers is unquestionably one of them.
“Yeah, look, I’ve always said that the one thing you can’t label against big Cyriel was his work-ethic,” said Ferguson. “He’s a grafter. I just think his positional sense at times could be better.
“We’ve spoken about it. He understands that. There’s parts of his game that he knows he can improve and we know we can improve him. He’s very open. And a lot of the boys are like that ,Whether you’re 30, 31, or whether you’re 18 or 19, you never stop learning.”
As a pundit, Ferguson thought he could see what was wrong with Rangers – or at least, part of what was wrong. “I just felt watching the team, it was a bit pedestrian at times,” he said.
“That’s maybe a European style and I totally get that. I just think when you play at a club like Rangers, it needs to be real high tempo. When I watched them, I didn’t really know the game plan.”
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Ferguson is still a rookie at this level and on Sunday he’s going up against a veteran winner in Brendan Rodgers. Life is weird. A few short weeks ago he was looking forward to a holiday in the sun with his wife. Now this.
“If I wasn’t here I’d have been lying beside a pool with a cocktail. I had to cancel my holiday. When I’m standing on that sideline, yeah, I’m up and down and ranting and raving a bit, but I wouldn’t change it.”
He said he survived on three or four hours sleep a night for the first 10 whirlwind days. Did he even get as many as three or four on Thursday into Friday? “Long hours, but it can be 24-7 for me,” he explained.
It’s been a fair old spin so far. A 2-0 deficit against Kilmarnock, which they overcame. A 2-0 deficit at home to Motherwell, which ended in defeat. That sensational performance in Istanbul, that spectacular act of escapology at Ibrox on Thursday.
Now that he’s back to domestic business he returns to matters close to home.
“Motherwell – it hurt me,” Ferguson said. “I said to the players afterwards, ‘it’s going to hurt me Saturday night, it’s going to hurt me Sunday, it better hurt you the same’.
“It was a horrendous result. I suffered. It was sore. On Sunday, I couldn’t get it out of my head. That’s important to me because you’ve got to hurt after defeats. I don’t want somebody getting away and just thinking, it’s only a game of football. It’s not just a game of football.”
He says that the greatest piece of advice he ever received in football was from Walter Smith. ‘Meet everything head-on’ his former manager at Rangers once told him. It’s a creed he was always going to stay true to once the call came in the wake of Clement’s exit.
“Look, there was always going to be a bit of negativity (to his appointment),” he said. “I have no issue with that. Negativity – I’ve been used to it all my days. Until people actually know me personally, football’s my life.
“I’ve got all my badges. I understand the game. It’s a game that I love. When a club that you’ve supported as a nipper and went on to play for and then captain offers you this opportunity, I’d be an absolute headbanger if I said no. People think I’m a strange character, because I do enjoy pressure. I knew what I was getting into.”
What he’s getting into on Sunday at Celtic Park is another challenge – the biggest one because it’s the next one. He lives day-to-day now and wouldn’t have it any other way.
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Published
18 June 2023
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