(Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)
Barry Ferguson
Rangers to Birmingham, £1million.
Humans are at their most dangerous when they have something to prove. This is particularly true of athletes. Whether they have suffered injuries, need to justify a price tag, or been criticised for performance, the need to demonstrate that they can still perform is essential.
In the best sportsmen, criticism burns deep in their blood helping to motivate them for the task at hand.
They need to prove they can still handle it at the top.
When Barry Ferguson accompanied international team mate Allan McGregor to a late night-drinking session following Scotland’s World Cup qualifier defeat to Holland, he compromised his position as a senior member of the squad.
When the pair were relegated to the bench for the subsequent match against Iceland, the childish gestures aimed at the gathering media all but sealed their fate—their international future was in tatters.
Stripped of both the Rangers and Scotland captaincies and told he would never play for his country again, Ferguson’s career was in tatters. He issued a public apology but it didn’t make a difference. Humiliated by the relentless press and disowned by the club he supported since a boy, Ferguson’s Rangers career was over.
The irony of the situation was that Rangers manager Walter Smith had ended what he started for Ferguson, after giving him his first appearances as a professional during his first stint as coach at Ibrox. However, it was not until Dick Advocaat was given the manager’s job in 1998 that Ferguson began to establish himself as a first team regular. In that season, he was a vital cog in the Rangers wheel that won the Scottish treble of the Premier League, Scottish Cup and League Cup.
The performances of Ferguson proved so influential that he was given a massive six-year contract the following season. High standards continued to be set by the midfielder into the new millennium, as he won the Scottish Football Writers' Player of the Year award in 2000 and was awarded the Rangers captaincy later that year, fulfilling a childhood dream.
He retained the armband when Alex McLeish became Rangers manager in 2001, leading Rangers to another domestic treble in the 2002-03 season, scoring 18 goals from midfield and securing another Writers' Player of the Year award, as well as the Players' Player of the Year award.
Having won everything that was possible to win in the limited environment of Scotland, Ferguson turned his attention southwards as the bright lights of the English Premier League shone. As a fellow Scot and Rangers man, Graeme Souness was a keen admirer of the talents of Ferguson and had no doubt that he could justify his £7.5million price tag and replicate the form he showed north of the border for Blackburn Rovers.
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