Barry Ferguson achieved what no Rangers manager since Steven Gerrard could do against Celtic on Sunday.
Days after overcoming Jose Mourinho’s Fenerbahce in the Europa League, the interim Ibrox manager outwitted his Celtic dugout counterpart in the Old Firm derby.
And that delivered a first win for Rangers at Celtic Park since 2020 when a Connor Goldson double handed the Light Blues victory in the season they won 55.
In his post-match analysis on Sunday, Ferguson said his Rangers team were fully deserving of the 3-2 win and showed the ‘mentality’ required to play for the Glasgow giants.
But what did Ferguson say five years ago when Rangers last beat Celtic at Parkhead before the weekend? Rangers News picks out four quotes from his Daily Record column, all of which hit differently now.
- READ MORE: Why Rangers vs Celtic is Called The Old Firm
Ferguson was clueless about Old Firm result until 5pm
October 17, 2020 and Barry Ferguson is manager of Lowland League outfit Kelty Hearts. And unfortunately for the ex-Rangers skipper, his game that day clashed with the Old Firm derby.
Kelty were away to Civil Service Strollers in the league and Ferguson told how his full focus was on that and absolutely nothing else despite his obvious interest in Celtic vs Rangers.
His Kelty team won 3-2 and it was only at 5pm when he could check that Rangers had beaten their arch-rivals at Parkhead. He said: “4.59pm. That’s when I found out Rangers had done the business at Parkhead.
“Honestly, I must have been one of the last people in the country to hear the scoreline and it’s a miracle that nobody let slip in front of me until fully two and half hours after the final whistle. But boy it was worth the wait!”
Compare that to Sunday and Ferguson was one of the first in Scotland to know having stood on the touchline as interim manager for 90 plus minutes. How times have changed for him.
Celtic’s 2020 and 2025 injury parallels
Celtic missed their captain Callum McGregor in central midfield on Sunday and some now say that played a part in their defeat.
They were also without Auston Trusty and Liam Scales, with Maik Nawrocki drafted in out of cold storage to play at centre-back.
That situation draws parallels with Celtic missing a number of key players in the October 2020 derby. But Ferguson was having none of it five years ago and still thought Celtic had the quality to win – Celtic fans will say the same thing after the weekend’s result.
He wrote: “I’ve heard certain pundits saying it was Celtic reserves. Garbage! Listen, I know they were missing a few players and, yes, when you see Odsonne Edouard isn’t there then of course you get a lift.
“But Celtic still had quality right throughout their team so let’s not make any excuses for them.”
How Ferguson thought Rangers performed
When Steven Gerrard’s Rangers won 2-0 at Celtic Park in 2020, Ferguson was full of praise for the performance. Here’s how he analysed the display and notice how similar it was to Sunday.
He said: “Rangers, in the home of their biggest rivals, were excellent and the game plan was bang on the button.
“Rangers were controlled, aggressive and their work rate was excellent. They looked really hungry and I liked that.”
Ferguson’s Glen Kamara prediction just about spot on
As Ferguson noted, Rangers were outstanding at Celtic Park five years ago and for him, one of the team’s star players was Glen Kamara in midfield.
Kamara had signed for Rangers the year before for just £50k and Ferguson admitted that he laughed watching the full game back knowing his old club had pulled off ‘the deal of the century.’
Ferguson then went on to claim Kamara was worth at least £5m after his derby performance, which is just shy of what he left Rangers for in 2023.
Ferguson said at the time: “Glen Kamara was the standout. How on earth was that guy only £50,000? What would you get for that now? That is the deal of the Century.
“I was actually laughing while I was watching the game thinking what a piece of business that was. And he is only going to get better too.
“Stick another two zeros on the end of that £50,000 and you’ll not be close to what he’s worth now.”
