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.
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...