Interim boss Barry Ferguson can say that he was there as Ibrox started crumbling around Philippe Clement, another era reduced to dust as Rangers prepare to build again from the ground up.
Barry Ferguson was in the stands when Rangers were stunned by Queen’s Park in the Scottish Cup.
He was there, watching on in horror as his beloved club produced another insipid display en route to another humiliating home defeat. If Clement was lucky to escape the sack against that Queen’s Park humiliation – CEO Patrick Stewart throwing him a rope and hauling him up from the precipice – then St Mirren’s 2-0 triumph at Ibrox on Saturday finally saw the Belgian’s fingers lose their grip.
As such, it will be Barry Ferguson leading the Glasgow giants into battle at Rugby Park on Wednesday, the legendary Rangers captain flanked by Allan McGregor, Billy Dodds and Neil McCann in a new-look coaching team chock-full of familiar faces.
Ferguson goes head to head with Derek McInnes. The Kilmarnock boss has been one of those linked with the job in the aftermath of Clement’s sacking. Interestingly, Rangers have also lost five times at Rugby Park since 2017. Hardly the ideal place to begin a new era, then.
But while the man in interim charge has only one training session between now and Wednesday’s late kick-off, he will not accept any excuses from a Rangers squad who have underachieved for far too long.
Barry Ferguson impressed by Rangers player’s response to Philippe Clement exit
“I expect them to win the game in football I expect them to give me everything they’ve got, because that’s one thing I’ll give them and my coaching staff as well,” Ferguson said during a passionate press conference.
“I had a brief meeting with them for five or ten minutes today and I got it across and they fully understand my expectations of them.”
Ferguson is impressed, though, by the attitude he has been greeted with since walking through the door in Clement’s place.
While there are big question marks hanging over the quality of this roster – many of Rangers’ recent signings have much to prove – the five-time Scottish Premiership champion has the impression that this is a group of players who will at least give the effort and energy he views as a pre-requisite.”
“I’m excited and I’m proud to be asked to become the Rangers manager until the end of the season. So as I said, I’m going to give it my all. And so is my staff. And so is this group of players,” Ferguson adds.
“I want the players, I want the staff, to be walking through these front doors with a smile on their face. And certainly that’s what I got from the players today. When they come in, they were bubbly. That’s the way it’s going to be, but also there’s going to be a serious side to it.
“When we train, we’ll train and we’ll put demands on them. And they’re also understanding that it’s about winning games and we have to win games of football.
“It’s clear that it’s a group of players that are low in confidence, but my job today was trying to pick that up a bit. And I certainly got a response. My coaching staff certainly got a response.
“When I was driving in this morning at seven o’clock, that was my thought process; ‘I need to get a kick out of these guys. They need to give me a reaction’. And they certainly gave me a reaction this morning.
“I couldn’t ask for any more of them. Now they’ll go away, we’ll meet up tomorrow, and then we’ll see where it takes us. But I’m confident I will get a rise out of them.”
Ferguson leaning on experience as James Tavernier keeps armband
Ferguson confirms that James Tavernier will remain as captain. He has also spoken to some of the more ‘experienced’ members of the squad – presumably that includes John Souttar, Leon Balogun, Cyriel Dessers and perhaps even Nico Raskin – in an attempt to root out the sort of ‘inconsistency’ which has blighted Rangers’ season.
“The root cause is there’s not been enough of winning games of football,” Ferguson explains. “It’s plain and simple. There’s been an inconsistency and that’s something that me and my staff and the players need to get sorted as soon as possible. And that has to start tomorrow night.
“I know the way football operates nowadays, some players need an arm round about them. Some maybe need a wee clip round about the ear. I’ll suss out who needs that. But what I will say is, the response I got today was the response that I wanted driving in this morning.”
