Barry Ferguson is a Scottish football (soccer) player. A stylish midfield player, Ferguson first came to prominence with Glasgow Rangers in 1997 when he made his first team debut. His older brother Derek had played for the club in the 1980s but the younger Ferguson was set to have a higher profile career. It was a career that would see him become a Rangers legend and earn 45 caps for Scotland. He was also captain of both club and country. However, despite all these positives, Ferguson's career may ultimately be remembered most for receiving a life ban from playing for his country.
There's no doubt that Ferguson's career has had a Jackal and Hyde feel to it. Let's start, though, with the positives. Ferguson's resume shows, as I've mentioned, that he captained both Glasgow Rangers and Scotland. This shows that more than one manager considered him to have leadership qualities and there's no doubt that he was capable of leading by example (on the pitch) with his ability to maintain his passing game in the heat of battle. He won 45 caps for Scotland and is generally considered to have been the outstanding Scottish player of his generation, even though it has perhaps not been a vintage period for Scottish football. His trophy cabinet is also fairly full, including four Scottish Premier League winners' medals, four Scottish Cup winners' medals and five Scottish League Cup winners' medals. Not bad and there are certainly many players who would be very envious of that haul. I'd actually argue, however, that the pinnacle of Ferguson's career is represented by the runners up medal that he and his Rangers teammates obtained by reaching the UEFA Cup final in 2008. It's all very well winning trophies when your one of two big fish in a small pond but to reach a European final, for a team of Rangers' stature is a more meaningful achievement.
It's not always been plain sailing for Ferguson, however. Having established himself in the early years with Rangers, there was a lot of transfer speculation and many felt that he would earn himself a big money move to one of the Big Four teams in England. When a move did materialize, however, it was to Blackburn Rovers, a mid-table English team. Still, it was a great opportunity for Ferguson to make his mark in a bigger league and to prove that he was one of the best midfielders in Europe. Sadly though, Blackburn fans and sports journalists were left greatly under whelmed by Ferguson's performances in a Blackburn shirt. There was a suspicion that playing at a higher level had revealed Ferguson's limitations, most notably his lack of pace. However, others put his failure to hit the heights in England down to homesickness. It was the first time that this Glasgow boy had been away from Scotland and it was said that he simply had failed to adjust to life in a new city and country.
The English sojourn ended in 2005, when Rangers brought him back into their fold. There was jubilation from Rangers that the prodigal son had returned and he was son reappointed as Rangers captain by the manager Alex McLeish. The honeymoon period wasn't to last for long, however, and the appointment of Frenchman Paul Le Guen, in 2007, was to signal a low point in Ferguson's club career. Le Guen came into Ibrox and decided that it needed a broom taken to it to sweep out underperforming players and to eradicate some of the unprofessional habits that Le Guen felt had been hindering Rangers' attempts to combat Celtic's recent dominance. At the centre of this, allegedly, was a belief that there was a drinks culture at Rangers. Le Guen acted as a disciplinarian and also sought to change the way that the team played. He fell out with controversial striker Kris Boyd and also with Ferguson. Ferguson was stripped of the captain's armband and dropped from the team. It looked as if his Rangers career was effectively over as a standoff emerged between popular player and a manager who had become unpopular due to poor on-field results.
Most clubs would have backed their newly appointed manager and taken the stance that no player is bigger than a club. However, Rangers went the other way, and Le Guen was history and Ferguson (and Boyd) were back in favour under the newly appointed manager, who was Ferguson's former Scotland manger Walter Smith. Results immediately improved under Smith and Ferguson was at the heart of that improvement. It looked like it was going to be a fairytale ending to Ferguson's Rangers love affair. Despite being accused of undermining Le Guen and being a disruptive influence, Ferguson was once again firmly within the bosom of his club's adoring supporters; dare I say it, a rather scary image! 2008 saw that run to the final of the UEFA Cup final and, although they lost (like Celtic in 2003) it had put Scottish football back into the European limelight and was something that Ferguson and everyone associated with the club can be very proud of. They also performed admirably in the league and it was only fixture congestion (caused by their European run) that ultimately resulted in them narrowly losing the league title to fierce Glasgow rivals Celtic.
Nevertheless, going into the 2008/09 season, things were looking pretty good in the context of Barry Ferguson's long career. There was another tilt at the league title with Rangers to look forward to, plus a World Cup qualifying group where it looked eminently possible for Scotland to secure second place and get a playoff place. Then, on the 28th of March, Ferguson self destructed in catastrophic fashion. Scotland had just been comprehensively beaten by Holland in Amsterdam and the Scottish players had retreated back to their hotel. It was a setback but all was not lost with a big game to come the following Wednesday against Iceland. Unfortunately, Ferguson and his Rangers teammate Allan McGregor decided to stay up at the hotel bar until the wee small hours, and it wasn't soft drinks that they were consuming.
Initially, Scottish manager George Burley took a fairly lenient approach. He dropped the players from the team but allowed them to remain on the substitute's bench. They were being punished for an unprofessional breach of discipline but Burley seems to have been prepared to accept their apologies and forgive if not forget. Behind the scenes, it is alleged that Walter Smith had counseled his Rangers duo to be contrite and keep their heads low. Smith must have been furious, therefore, at what they did next. Sat on the bench for the Iceland match, Ferguson and McGregor were understandably the focus of attention both from the Scottish fans and also from the press pack. However, instead of keeping their heads down, they were pictured making immature and offensive V signs. They attempted to disguise the V signs (an offensive gesture in Britain), by making it look like they were accidental, but they were not good actors!
In the wake of this stupid behaviour, and on their return to Rangers, their club manager Walter Smith ordered both Ferguson and McGregor home from training and banned them for two weeks without pay. He also stripped Ferguson of the Rangers captaincy. His ire was partly, I imagine, due to the fact that they had chosen to ignore his counsel but was also driven by the negative image that they had brought to their club. As a former Scotland manager, I imagine that Smith was also furious that players could behave so disrespectfully towards their country and their country's fans. Scotland also then imposed a lifetime ban on Ferguson and McGregor, meaning that (pending the ban being overturned) Ferguson's international career had come to and end just short of the fifty caps mark.
It remains to be seen what the future holds for Barry Ferguson. There are some who are suggesting that this marks the end of Ferguson's Rangers career and that he might even retire. However, we had thought that his Rnagers career was over twice in the past, when he moved to Blackburn and when he fell out with Le Guen. It's not inconceivable that he might manage to ride this storm and re-establish himself. Another possibility is that he might go to see out his career in Russia, as former Rangers manager Dick Advocaat is a big fan and wants to take Ferguson to Zenit Saint Petersburg, who incidentally were the team who denied Rangers the UEFA Cup trophy. One thing is for certain, however, and that is that the career of Barry Ferguson has been full of twists and turns. He has been a very good player but, ultimately, his career has perhaps not lived up to the promise that he had and the expectations of many observers.
Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barry_Ferguson# cite_note-26