Did Barry Ferguson get Paul le Guen the sack?

Moses McNeil said:
I don’t think any promises were made. I read an interview with PLG years ago and he admitted he arrogantly thought it would be an easy job and then it turned out managing Rangers was a lot harder than he thought it would be.
I never understand why PLG threads always inevitably turn into a Barry Ferguson bashing session. Fergie was a winner whereas PLG accepted mediocrity. PLG used Barry Ferguson to engineer his move out the door.
Click to expand...
That’s interesting mate. I was always under the impression he expected money to be spent and in the end got Jeremy Clement and Libor Sionko.
 
David Edgar said:
He was expecting more backing, yes. I think he got to Scotland, realised he’d underestimated the challenge of being Rangers manager, hated the style of football and just generally thought he’d picked the wrong job.
Click to expand...
We have all been there
 
I remember being pretty encouraged after our opening day win at Motherwell. We played some excellent football that day - Buffel looked superb. That was about as good as got domestically under Le Guen. We were all desperate for him to succeed but he just didn't fancy it.
 
AyrshireBear79 said:
No. But as others have pointed to I would have expected more from Barry at that time.

He threw his toys out the pram, knew he had the mob behind him, and played to it.

You might not like the man, but, he should have known better.

If you read threads on BF you will see a lucky bag full of thoughts on him.

On this particular point, I think he got it wrong.
Click to expand...
I’m quite educated on it to be honest, rather than needing a history lesson or to be told how to think about Barry, cheers though

As someone who had to watch and suffer the “Le Guen era” I was delighted by his exit, and Ferguson’s return

Ferguson was right to bury Le Guen, Le Guen went out his way to try and scapegoat him for his own means, as he did with Rae, Le Guen was a shameless arsehole

Le Guens narrative about Ferguson was fairy tail nonsense - it was a total buzz to move on from him.
 
TheMish said:
I’m quite educated on it to be honest, rather than needing a history lesson or to be told how to think about Barry, cheers though

As someone who had to watch and suffer the “Le Guen era” I was delighted by his exit, and Ferguson’s return

Ferguson was right to bury Le Guen, Le Guen went out his way to try and scapegoat him for his own means, as he did with Rae, Le Guen was a shameless arsehole

Le Guens narrative about Ferguson was fairy tail nonsense - it was a total buzz to move on from him.
Click to expand...
I'll defer to your superior knowledge then mate.
 
AyrshireBear79 said:
I'll defer to your superior knowledge then mate.
Click to expand...
I wouldn’t be a wank if you didn’t start the “Timmy patter”

Le Guen would have sold Ferguson, a cornerstone in our European run, sold him with no fucking clue or actual want to replace him, and then left 2 weeks later, and I’m a Tim for being pissed at that idea, aye good one pal.
 
The Scottish contingent weren’t going to change, which says more about them, however PLG under estimated the job (he turned up too late as he was running the ultra marathon). His biggest failing was he couldn’t spot a player. It’s okay having double sessions, having good shape etc, but Karl Svensson in defence being dominated by 5ft 8 Noel Hunt was soul destroying. Smith came in, signed weir and big ugo, and went 10 games unbeaten at the end of the season including pumping them in their midden.
 
In Walter We Trust said:
Bollocks , he was shite manager
Click to expand...
There is a bit where Murray couldn’t give the budget that had been agreed.
However, with the budget le Guen had, he bought, or brought in Svenson, Sionko and £1.8m Phillip Sebo!
Only decent signings he made were Clement and Papac, and he only gets away with Papac because Smith got him out of the centre back position and he became a trusted left back.
In my opinion, we should appreciate Ferguson for his passion for Rangers on this one.
 
Le Guen’s commitment to the job waned almost immediately. Murray had promised him c£18m to spend (money we were getting from JJB) then reneged on that.

Taking Mahktar N’Diaye on trial was not what PLG was expecting. More Govou and Landreu than Sebo and Letizi, ideally.

By that point he wanted out but some players did behave disgracefully. They would speak very quickly in strong Glaswegian accents so the management couldn’t understand them, and would shite out of training by getting the doc to write fake sick notes.

One of those appointments that genuinely was doomed from the start.
 
Paul le Guen got himself the sack, he was useless for us and pinning it anybody else but him would be wrong.

Barry Ferguson I am guessing was probably the most vocal one in questioning what was going on and yeah probably fed the info to outside sources about the general feeling behind the scenes but Le Guen was awful for us and no point painting it any other way.
 
Blu_ultra said:
The Scottish contingent weren’t going to change, which says more about them, however PLG under estimated the job (he turned up too late as he was running the ultra marathon). His biggest failing was he couldn’t spot a player. It’s okay having double sessions, having good shape etc, but Karl Svensson in defence being dominated by 5ft 8 Noel Hunt was soul destroying. Smith came in, signed weir and big ugo, and went 10 games unbeaten at the end of the season including pumping them in their midden.
Click to expand...

The Scottish contingent included players like McGregor who he constantly overlooked, weird, and would become one of our greatest keepers, Ferguson, someone who you could make a case for our greatest 11, Boyd, one of our best ever goal scorers, Adam who went on to play for Liverpool, Hutton who got a move to the EPL

All of them had pretty bloody good careers and showed a want to do well when well coached

good coaching doesn’t solely need the player to bend, the coach does as well. He had a decent level of talent he didn’t get the best out of it.
 
Blu_ultra said:
The Scottish contingent weren’t going to change, which says more about them, however PLG under estimated the job (he turned up too late as he was running the ultra marathon). His biggest failing was he couldn’t spot a player. It’s okay having double sessions, having good shape etc, but Karl Svensson in defence being dominated by 5ft 8 Noel Hunt was soul destroying. Smith came in, signed weir and big ugo, and went 10 games unbeaten at the end of the season including pumping them in their midden.
Click to expand...
I think that sums it up.
 
"I think what it does show is the poverty of this Rangers team"


Aye right you are Gerry...
b25lY21zOjZjYTQxYjkzLTNkY2EtNDEyNC04NGMxLTk1ZTZjMWNkZGUzOTpiZTBkNTQ5ZS1jZDRlLTQ3MTctODlhZC0zODIzODZjNDllMWM=.jpg
 
TheMish said:
I wouldn’t be a wank if you didn’t start the “Timmy patter”

Le Guen would have sold Ferguson, a cornerstone in our European run, sold him with no fucking clue or actual want to replace him, and then left 2 weeks later, and I’m a Tim for being pissed at that idea, aye good one pal.
Click to expand...
Fair enough mate, seen loads of threads on Barry.. Was more the fact its a new account & you've chose this one to be so defensive about him. I apologise.

He's a decisive figure, on & off the park.

If you believe that he was acting in the best interst of Rangers at that time, then fair enough, it's what we would all like to think.

Others would suggest the various other things he has done over the years would point towards Barry only being really interested in Barry.

Anyway to get back to my original view, I dont think he caused it, for a lot of reasons that you & others have mentioned, but he didn't help is my opinion, and I wouldn't encourage that in a Rangers captain.
 
DylanGer said:
I got the inside story at the time from a good source.

Concise version.

Murray deep in his own troubles with his collapsing empire wasn't as close to the action as normal.

Murray once alerted to the issue with Ferguson by PLG took Ferguson in. He told PLG he would back him but demoting or selling Ferguson would be problematic in terms of how the fans might react.

He filleted Ferguson in private for his conduct and the fact it had went so far. Told Ferguson if it couldn't be resolved the manager would be backed 100%. Ferguson was deeply rattled by this and thought his time was up.

By the time Murray sat with PLG again -PLG decided for the 2nd time he didn't want to stay. Murray had nowhere to go.

PLG never settled at Rangers, he never understood our mentality and I doubt he liked the country much.
Click to expand...
Most of this is true. Murray was starting to struggle badly with his firms, with the rising debt levels amongst other things. He was always good for a coup, and le Guen was undeniably a coup but PLG hated it here. He stayed out in the sticks, which normally would have suited him but the house was relatively small, and he didn’t like it. He couldn’t get used to working at a club the size of Rangers, which at that time was still a major Powerhouse in Europe.

Jean Claude Darcheville took over PLGs house pretty much as soon as he left. I was lucky enough to get the run down briefly from Sandy Jardine as to why had happened with everything as he was player liaison as well as commercial manager at the time.

Ferguson and PLG hated each other and Fergie sussed him out pretty quickly.

I thought he would have done ok here personally, but the writing on the wall was his first home league game, 2-2 with Dundee Utd. Should have been easy enough 3 points, but we struggled against them. Wasn’t good enough.

PLG wasn’t good enough, simple as that.
 
Paul Le Guen got Paul Le Guen the sack by being a useless manager with no fight. He is among the worst Rangers managers in my lifetime.

Barry Ferguson is among the best players for Rangers in my lifetime and a club legend.
 
TheMish said:
Did anyone, really and I mean really ever believe those targets were real? The Schweinsteiger one would be like Posteglu saying he wants Pedri

I mean yeah, no shit
Click to expand...
Chat of Zidane as well I recall and Sidney Govou was on a plane to Glasgow daily according to the rags.
 
AyrshireBear79 said:
Fair enough mate, seen loads of threads on Barry.. Was more the fact its a new account & you've chose this one to be so defensive about him. I apologise.

He's a decisive figure, on & off the park.

If you believe that he was acting in the best interst of Rangers at that time, then fair enough, it's what we would all like to think.

Others would suggest the various other things he has done over the years would point towards Barry only being really interested in Barry.

Anyway to get back to my original view, I dont think he caused it, for a lot of reasons that you & others have mentioned, but he didn't help is my opinion, and I wouldn't encourage that in a Rangers captain.
Click to expand...
It wasn’t in the least bit defensive…your original reply was weird.

He wasn’t acting in the best interest of Rangers…. given we made a European Final and dominated the league and domestic cups for years after it and gave most of us some of our best Rangers supporting days he done a fucking great job deflecting the pisses excellence that is “Barry my baw” onto Rangers, he put us in a better place than we were heading under PLG…
 
Le Guen's problem was that given his success at Lyon, I think he totally under estimated the job at Ibrox. If we compare the cluster f#ck at the other side of the city in appointing a manager and the lack of time he has to establish his style, Le Guen was appointed months in advance with ample time to assess the SPL and it's sometimes unique requirements. Instead we were treated to almost John Collins level of how ''fit as f#ck'' he was as he traipsed around the Sahara. He subsequently rocks up minus at least one local voice in the management team with many signings totally unsuitable for our game. He failed, it was his failure, no one else.
 
Bowery Boy said:
"he could have been a good Rangers manager"

Le Guen wasn't interested in being a good Rangers manager (bolted at the first opportunity) and his career post Ibrox suggests that his time at Lyon was the exception.
Click to expand...

If the reports are to be believed, it's the one and only time I'd give Brown a crumb of respect.

Although that's probably the wrong word, given the nick they were all in.
 
TheMish said:
It wasn’t in the least bit defensive…your original reply was weird.

He wasn’t acting in the best interest of Rangers…. given we made a European Final and dominated the league and domestic cups for years after it and gave most of us some of our best Rangers supporting days he done a fucking great job deflecting the pisses excellence that is “Barry my baw” onto Rangers, he put us in a better place than we were heading under PLG…
Click to expand...
A clairvoyant as well it seems.
 
Supermac1872 said:
Chat of Zidane as well I recall and Sidney Govou was on a plane to Glasgow daily according to the ra
Click to expand...

aye Mandanda and Toulalan as well, yes we had seen what Murray could spend and football was different then, but even at the time these were highly, highly rated talents, who we were never going to sign, it all just failed the sniff test.

the entire project was when my wheels of Murray had fallen off and the car was in flames, the entire thing just always felt like total bullshit.
 
Every single one of us would have done exactly the same had we been in Barry Fergusons shoes, PLGs appointment is up there with Pedro Caixinha as the worst ever appointment in the History of Glasgow Rangers, guy was an arrogant vagina who deserved all he got, utter dumpling of a man.
 
EH47 said:
Sounds kinda like you just may be the bawbag here.
Click to expand...
This the same Ferguson Walter kicked out the door aye? First to stick the boot into us in his Collum anaw. There’s no debate he was a fantastic player. Off the park completely different story
 
PLG was a massive coup at the time.
No doubt he had plenty of offers.
But as we have seen from him and pedro, warburton and ally, its a tough job.
 
Anyone on here claiming they wouldn’t speak up if a manager was happily accepting mediocrity is either off their nut or has an agenda against Barry Ferguson.
Same folk that defend Pedro over Kenny Miller and Lee Wallace. PLG would have never got us where Walter did in the coming years after he was sacked.
 
I believe the PLG wanted out stuff and i think it probably mitigates Barry to an extent BUT Barry became a bawbag of a player in his later years. a bit like Kenny Miller was. Put the club on his shoulders not necessarily for the clubs benefit snd not because anyone asked him to but for his own ego. used to boil my blood seeing Barry chewing out Charlie Adam or even worse, Miller making a scene if, say, Andy Murdoch gave him the ball on the wrong way
 
He might have done better had he done some preparation work rather than piss off on a wee jaunt over the Sahara and turn up at the last minute. He thought Scotland would be a breeze.
 
In Walter We Trust said:
You being serious with crap like that, Barry was bar far holding the team together at that time.
Click to expand...
Just coming on to post the same

We were rotten under PLG , Barry was the only player that was getting pass marks and I genuinely mean that , it was when he decided to drop Barry that the support turned on le guen at fir park that afternoon, not just the fans but the players also ala boydie
 
Kieranrfc said:
https://twitter.com/x/status/1418294233350483973
IMO he was getting sacked Anyway
Click to expand...
Murray chased Paul le Guen for months. Eventually got his man. Then never financially backed him. Was weird. Maybe he thought he couldn't be trusted. Who knows? He wanted Bastian Swienstieger Johan Elmander ended up getting 3 Austria Vienna players. From that short era we got Papac, learned Hemdani could play and Shagger began starting in goals. It led to Walter's return too which led to domestic dominance.
Paul le Guen got himself sacked
 
That was just a strange one from start to finish. A manager who quite clearly didn't want to be here and had zero affection for the club. Making Gavin Rae captain summed up how bizarre it all was.
 
Le Guen's success at Lyon (and good results with us in the UEFA Cup) was used as irrefutable proof that we had an outstanding manager on our hands, the heir apparent to Arsene Wenger, and that he should be backed unconditionally by the fans. I was a poster on here at the time and FF had very much taken the side of the manager.

The problem - as his run as Rangers manager and subsequent career showed - was that he simply wasn't a very good manager. Lyon were already well on the way to becoming a great team before he took over (Santini had won the league and left for the France job) and he was flattered by an exceptional crop of talent that made winning Ligue 1 the footballing equivalent of a walkover. Alain Perrin was sacked by Portsmouth and later won the league with Lyon, FFS.

The less said about the rest of his career the better, but it seems to have been a case of baffling recruitment, questionable decisions and weak management.

His career post-Rangers made a mockery of Speirs' book title on him - "The Enigma." He wasn't an enigma at all. He just got lucky at his first job and dined out on it for a while. It just so happened that the Rangers players who worked with him found that out first.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Latest posts

Back
Top