Barry Ferguson was told when he returned to Rangers and took on the job of his dreams that he was only going to be there on an interim basis.
Nothing changed during his tenure and a couple of positive results in Old Firm derbies and the Europa League were overshadowed by a club record run of defeats at Ibrox and poor domestic form.
Even if he was being considered, his chances were blown very early on in his tenure, whether or not he thought he could handle the pressure.
With reports suggesting that Davide Ancelotti is going to be the next Rangers manager, Ferguson was spiky in his pre-match press conference for the visit of Dundee Utd when asked about the Real Madrid assistant manager.
What also irked the Hall of Fame skipper, is that he feels a foreign coach would have been given more respect than he and his Scottish coaching team.
Barry Ferguson is ‘kidding himself’ about Rangers job
Speaking on the Scottish Football Podcast via the BBC, Times journalist Michael Grant disagrees entirely:
“Actually, I’m not sure that I do agree with that because I think if I… The criticism of Ferguson or the doubt about Ferguson was his managerial record not being great. So if a foreign manager had taken over Rangers even on an interim basis with a not great track record, he would have been criticised for the results that Barry’s got.
“Barry’s had some great results, the Old Firm games and Fenerbahce, but he’s also had a lot of poor results. And I think he’s kidding himself on if he thinks that a foreign manager wouldn’t have got criticised for that in our media, he would have been. And I sympathise with him in a general sense, because I think it’s been difficult over the last month or so, especially when there’s been that sense that it’s not going to be him.”
Has Ferguson been dealt with harshly by the press?
Grant is right, Ferguson is almost deluding himself if he thinks that he has done – in his words – “ok”.
It is all fair and well getting a couple of good results against Celtic, but Rangers have been beaten by all and sundry in the league too.
Almost two goals a game were being conceded, he got his first win at Ibrox against Aberdeen last weekend despite taking over in February and Rangers rank 11th or 12th for statistics like shots conceded and clean sheets in the last 10 games.
There has been nothing to suggest that Ferguson should be considered.
His complaints about a lack of control or not being clinical enough in attack were justified, but he was in a position to do something about it and yet continued to pick the same players.
He has demanded that the likes of Oscar Cortes need to do more to get a chance, but then not given him any minutes to prove that he can do better than those that have been struggling.
It is a same story for Danilo, Ferguson claims to have given the Rangers No.99 a chance, but he’s had one start in a virtual B team XI against Aberdeen at Pittodrie – hardly a fair crack of the whip.
Ferguson has had a fair crack, he’s just blown it.
