Barry Ferguson - the player

DD1872 said:
A player whose ability gets vastly inflated with every passing year since retirement, much like his ego...

He was an excellent player in his first spell. In his second, he was overly risk averse and played it safe too often. His shooting was, generally powederpuff, like Glen Kamara (queue someone posting a link to him scoring a rare 30 yard screamer as if it proves me wrong...).

Someone says above that he could have "played at any team in the world" - ability wise? Maybe, just like Paul Lambert played in a champions league winning Dortmund side or Scot McTominay playing for Man U. Ferguson would be there to perform a very set role: retain possession and give the ball to better players who could create opportunities. He wouldn't be dominating games like Pirlo, Modric, Gerrard or Lampard.

Mentality wise I don't think he could have played in "any side in the world". He had to be a big fish in a wee pond, he was a nobody down south. A bog standard, run of the mill player that nobody outside of Scotland would remember or speak about. That's the truth.
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My first reaction was to go in 2 footed on this post as I'm very much in the camp that regards Ferguson as an excellent player and up there with our best ever midfielders.

But then I read it again and tbf, there's a couple of decent points. Was he better and a more complete player in his first spell than his second? Yes. Would he have been as dominant and the main man at the likes of a Man U, Real Madrid, Juve? Probably not (although that's a very, very high bar to judge him against).

And then we get to your last paragraph, which is a wild take and spoils your entire argument imo.

"A bog standard, run of the mill player that nobody outside of Scotland would remember or speak about." Followed up by a definitive statement that it's the truth.

Sorry...what? That description should be reserved for the Andy Hallidays and Bob Malcolms (no offence to 2 proud Rangers men intended) of our archives. Under no circumstances is it even remotely applicable to Barry Ferguson.

And who cares if he's remembered or spoken about much outwith Scotland? His career down south was a bit of a damp squib, but mainly because of a combination of poor choice of clubs and bad injury. Even in his twilight and surrounded by mediocre players, he still was a driving force for a league cup winning Birmingham team.

431 appearances for his beloved Rangers. 60 goals. 15 major domestic trophies. A captain. A leader. A moany bugger, but a winner.

If that's your definition of bog-standard, there must be very, very few Rangers players over the years that you actually rate...
 
DD1872 said:
Barry Ferguson is a bit like the FA cup. If you need to continually debate, defend and tell everyone how great it/he is, then it kind of underlines the fact that it/he wasn't really that great.
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This is potentially the worst post I've ever seen on a player. Barry was a sensational footballer who could have played for any team in the world at his peak.

Maybe take up watching another sport mate. Football certainly ain't for you.
 
DD1872 said:
Barry Ferguson is a bit like the FA cup. If you need to continually debate, defend and tell everyone how great it/he is, then it kind of underlines the fact that it/he wasn't really that great.
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And the most moronic comment on the internet today goes to DD1872....

Anyone that watched Ferguson knows how good he was. Running the show against matthhaus being one of the best displays I've seen. It only seems to be tramps that come.kit with comments about him not being that good.
 
He played with a swagger. Brilliant.

Did he ever actually give the ball away or get it taken off him? People joke about Barry “ma baw”, but the truth is when he got the ball there wasn’t many who could get anywhere near him and his range of passing meant he could do whatever he wanted with it.
 
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cooprfc said:
This is potentially the worst post I've ever seen on a player. Barry was a sensational footballer who could have played for any team in the world at his peak.

Maybe take up watching another sport mate. Football certainly ain't for you.
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Could have played for "any team in the world" but chose to play for Blackburn Rovers and Birmingham City.
 
huistrasleftpeg said:
An outstanding homegrown talent, one of our best.

Looking back now, a move to England probably wasn’t the best move for him. I think he could have been sensational for a top continental team, away from British culture.
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Mate, he couldn't settle 3 hours down the road in the North West of England, how do you think he's going to settle somewhere they don't talk bam?
 
DD1872 said:
Could have played for "any team in the world" but chose to play for Blackburn Rovers and Birmingham City.
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And Rangers. He captained one of the biggest clubs in the world and regularly bossed huge players ans huge games for us and Scotland.

Also Birmingham wasn't "at his peak."
 
True Blue Avenger said:
who cares if he's remembered or spoken about much outwith Scotland? His career down south was a bit of a damp squib, but mainly because of a combination of poor choice of clubs and bad injury. Even in his twilight and surrounded by mediocre players, he still was a driving force for a league cup winning Birmingham team.

If that's your definition of bog-standard, there must be very, very few Rangers players over the years that you actually rate...
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My issue is that people on here seem to be arguing he was some world class player. He wasn't. He was a very good Rangers player. That's it.

He wasn't in any way, shape or form comparable to midfielders like Gazza, Keane, Gerrard, Lampard, Pirlo, Modric, Toure, Scholes, De Bruyne, Souness, Xavi, Iniesta, Busquets etc.... the list goes on.

True greats are remembered outside their own club. He isn't.
 
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Barry Ferguson is a club legend, fantastic player. At one point one of the best in Britain, by a mile the best Scotland has produced, I don't think players of his quality would stay at Rangers now for as long as he did, if we could even get one in the first place.
 
One of the best players I've seen in a Rangers jersey in over 3 decades of watching us.

He was the standout midfielder in a midfield that had van Bronckhorst, Albertz, Tugay & Reyna to name a few.

Made Lothat Matthaues look like a chump at 19 years old. Special player who unfortunately didn't quite reach the potential he had, in part due to injuries and constantly playing through with injections etc.
 
DD1872 said:
Mate, he couldn't settle 3 hours down the road in the North West of England, how do you think he's going to settle somewhere they don't talk bam?
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He spent 6.5 years of his playing career in England

So the "somewhere they don't talk bam" thing is nonsense
 
Outstanding player and gave us some amazing moments.

Crazy as this sounds but, I still maintain he underachieved in his career. That doesn't mean I don't think he was brilliant, I just felt that he could've done more than he did.

This is a guy who, in his early 20's, more than held his own with Lothar Mathaus and Stefan Effenberg and ripped the utter pish out of Marc Van Bommell.

That performance against PSV FFS!!! Unbelievable.
 
Back in my working days ( in Canada) at lunch break,I would chat football with Poles,Dutch and a crew of Chilean workmates,and to a man
they agreed our Barry was an automatic choice in any World select.
They all new his name of by heart.
 
Advocaat's regular midfield of Ferguson Van Bronckhorst Reyna Albertz was for me the best in the UK outside of Manchester Utd and Arsenal. That Ferguson was the equal or best of that quartet illustrates what a good player he was. Or perhaps not for some of FF's sages.
 
Barry Ferguson was a top class midfielder. For what it's worth I thought he was a far better player pre-Blackburn Rovers than the player he was when he returned.
 
DD1872 said:
My issue is that people on here seem to be arguing he was some world class player. He wasn't. He was a very good Rangers player. That's it.

He wasn't in any way, shape or form comparable to midfielders like Gazza, Keane, Gerrard, Lampard, Pirlo, Modric, Toure, Scholes, De Bruyne, Souness, Xavi, Iniesta, Busquets etc.... the list goes on.

True greats are remembered outside their own club. He isn't.
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Who has ever said he was as good as them? They are some of the best players of all time for god sakes.
 
DD1872 said:
Arsene Wenger and Alex Ferguson (whose judgments I would place more stock on) clearly disagree.
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Former Rangers boss, Alex McLeish, has revealed that Barry Ferguson was a one-time target for Manchester United after impressing in his time at Blackburn Rovers in the Premier League.

McLeish, speaking to Si Ferry’s Open Goal podcast and reported by The Scottish Sun, claims that Sir Alex Ferguson spoke to him about the Gers legend when he was managing down south.

“There was a spell when Barry was at Blackburn and Alex Ferguson said he was considering going for him.

“He told me that privately and he definitely thought about it.

“I don’t know if was around when Roy Keane left but he certainly did consider Barry.

“Barry could play any stadium in the world and not be fazed. He had such a belief in himself.”

There is a strange narrative by some in Scottish football that Ferguson wasn’t a success in England, at Blackburn, prior to his second spell at Rangers, he was one of the most dominant midfielders in the league and was regularly picking up man of the match awards before suffering a cruel knee injury.
 
Alex Ferguson was a fantastic manager, but he did sign and play some complete shite at times.

The idea Ferguson could have broken into a side where Quinton Fortune, Eric Djemba-Djemba Liam Miller and Kleberson were getting a game really doesn't seem farfetched

Rangers wouldn't have been near a title in 02/03 with any of those players at their best over what Ferguson produced that season
 
Terrific player. Should have achieved even more than he did. Blackburn move was beneath his footballing talents. As a man, least said and all that.
 
Awritenobad said:
The best Scottish footballer in two, maybe even three, generations.
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yep, best in last 30 year - would have strolled it in Italy. Wee Dick wasn't wrong when he said he was a £15m player when he was 19 I think.

In today's market, you're talking £70m or so if McGinn is valued at £50m down there.
 
Corporal Jones said:
Possibly something to do with a broken leg
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Nothing to do with injury for me. It wasn't as if his game was all about being a pacey athletic attacking midfielder that a bad injury could impact. He was at his best as a holding midfielder dictating the play. He never quite reached the heights second time around in my opinion
 
True Blue Avenger said:
My first reaction was to go in 2 footed on this post as I'm very much in the camp that regards Ferguson as an excellent player and up there with our best ever midfielders.

But then I read it again and tbf, there's a couple of decent points. Was he better and a more complete player in his first spell than his second? Yes. Would he have been as dominant and the main man at the likes of a Man U, Real Madrid, Juve? Probably not (although that's a very, very high bar to judge him against).

And then we get to your last paragraph, which is a wild take and spoils your entire argument imo.

"A bog standard, run of the mill player that nobody outside of Scotland would remember or speak about." Followed up by a definitive statement that it's the truth.

Sorry...what? That description should be reserved for the Andy Hallidays and Bob Malcolms (no offence to 2 proud Rangers men intended) of our archives. Under no circumstances is it even remotely applicable to Barry Ferguson.

And who cares if he's remembered or spoken about much outwith Scotland? His career down south was a bit of a damp squib, but mainly because of a combination of poor choice of clubs and bad injury. Even in his twilight and surrounded by mediocre players, he still was a driving force for a league cup winning Birmingham team.

431 appearances for his beloved Rangers. 60 goals. 15 major domestic trophies. A captain. A leader. A moany bugger, but a winner.

If that's your definition of bog-standard, there must be very, very few Rangers players over the years that you actually rate...
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Some post, not read it yet but will get back to it.

Just to let you know, the guy you are replying to is 1, at the wind up... 2, his carer has left their phone out while at the toilet and he's got a hold of it... 3, a mentally challenged.
 
Jim Prideaux said:

Is it bizarre if I say deep lying Barry of 98-00 was a better player than 02/03 box to box Barry?

The only reason I posted this is my young grandson asked me yesterday who the best Rangers players I’ve seen in the flesh was, and he didn’t expect me to say Barry.

It genuinely angers me that he never got to fulfil his potential down south, an incredibly talented footballer with the arrogance and skill to make him the best footballer I’ve seen the 50+ years I’ve watched Rangers.

Him getting in Lothar’s face, wow.
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Its a good point but he had a much better midfield around him 98-00 than 02/03
 
He's still the standard I hold every Rangers midfielder since to.

Always look for Barry Ferguson qualities in everyone who plays in there.
 
Nobody that saw Ferguson pre injury would say he was over rated or not as good as people think. He was absolutely magnificent and ran the show against some of the best midfielders in the world at the time (including some of the names mentioned in the crazy posts above like Gerrard and Scholes).

He was a different player when he returned. Maybe a less risk averse player but he was also more rounded. If he hadn't got injured he wouldn't have been back here and would have went onto bigger and better things than Blackburn.

98/99-02/03 he was wonderful, but its a long time ago now. Can appreciate why for some the latter year version of Ferguson we saw under Walter is what they remember and influence their views on him - and there will be plenty of the support who don't really remember the pre Blackburn Ferguson at all.
 
DerHammer88 said:

Numan's view was that he was good enough to play for Man Utd or Arsenal at the time.
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Man united had Roy keane at the time, the same Roy keane who was over the hill by the time he went to them had Ferguson chasing shadows at Ibrox when they beat us. Arsenal probably had vieira at the time too, hes not shifting any of them at the time tbh, although to be fair to him theres not probably much, if any players at the time that AF or AW would have swapped them for in that position.

He was exceptional for us though and i was gutted when he left as like many of us he was my fav player at the time. I was happy to have him back aswell, our team was frightening back then some years. Id honestly say the team at the time would finish around 4th to 6th in the epl, the team was that good, and he was arguably our best player.
 
Fantastic player, played with his head up and could pick a pass at will, he picked the wrong English club to go to.
 
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