Peak Durrant or peak Barry?

I remember the first time I saw Durrant play in a Glasgow Cup game against Celtic. I could not believe what I was seeing, the sheer quality of the slide rule passing, the control, the speed, the off the ball running and the short burst dribbling at pace when you thought he was going to pass it past one player and then he would run past two and put an assist on a plate. I can’t really think of anyone to compare him to when he was at his peak pre injury.
 
We were not fortunate enough to witness a "peak" Durrant thanks to that assault.

What we did see before his injury was a player who could have been world class and graced the top leagues of Europe.

Whilst we were still privileged to see a bloody good player after his injury it must rankle with Durrant at where he could have gone.

Without injury, the question of who was better would never arise.

This is in now way an attempt to belittle Ferguson and all that he achieved with us. It's just that Durrant could have been the greatest Scottish player of his generation, if not one of the best ever.
 
Johnny Yen said:
People often forget this, post injury he was still a fantastic player for us, as I mentioned in my post above, he won lots of honours with us, scored in cup finals, had motm performances in cup finals, scored in old firm games, played and scored in the Champions League too.
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He was excellent in 92/93. Scored an equaliser in my first oldfirm game.
 
Chester Loyal said:
Durrant was just before my time but I refuse to believe he was better than Ferguson.

Barry Ferguson captaining a star studded Rangers team, at 21, and being the best player on the park more often than not, is still under appreciated.

Ferguson’s performance for Scotland in the playoff v England was absolute outstanding as well. I’m sure he was only 20/21 at the time. He was head and shoulders the best player on the pitch that day.
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Your second and third paragraphs are correct.

Your first isn't.

In an era with the likes of Gerrard and Lampard, Barry was the best young player in Britain.

Durrant was better.
 
If i may say as a man who player with and against him through school and amateur fitba the question is flawed.
Sadly due to the chunt Simpson we never got to see "Peak" Iain Durrant

As much as i loved seeing Barry in all his strutting pomp i have to say he was not close to Durrant.

I would argue that for that assault-can never call it a tackle- the SMSM when discussing Scotland legends would mention Baxter, Law, Dalglish and Durrant
 
chosen few said:
I hope this is not hyperbole but Ian Durrant could have been one of the greats,, Barry was a great player who I loved watching but Durrant was a one in a generation type player, who played the game in a unique way.
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Not hyperbole.
I'd have taken Durrant post injury over Ferguson.
Was Durrant the last easily recognizable world class Scottish outfield player?
I can't think of one other player after him. That's pretty sad considering those who went before him.
 
insanicdrunk said:
Durrant was only 20/21 when he was injured, the way Scotland was then there is no way a 18-20/1 year old gets into the team. However I may be wrong on that it was a while ago. He wasn't d

Just had a look at a Scotland team from 86, who does he replace here? I'm not saying he isn't good enough, but the mindset of his age against the established players. When you look at that team, remember gough can;t even get a start as a centre half!

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So Durrant wasn't better than Roy Aitken in that midfield?
 
Durrant by quite some distance. If he had not been injured we wouldn't have had him for much longer. If I remember correctly, there was a lot of interest from Italy.
 
For me two different style of players entirely. Barry would dictate games but Durrants running beyond and intelligence could carve open teams.

Both great products of our youth system and as said earlier we never got to see Durrant at his peak so Barry for me.
 
As goodas Barry was and I loved him, a complete player to dictate a game, a team and indeed a generation of a teams infrastructure,
the football of wee Durranty was something exceptional, on another level in terms of distribution, penetration and intelligence,

something of brilliance was Iain Durrant on a football field
 
Great topic, first time I remember Barry was kicking a ball about outside Durrantys mum's and you could see he had talent right away. I always thought Derek was more natural with the ball but as players you'd have picked Barry over him every time, he just had that desire that something. As for Barry or Iain its Durrant every time, people do him a disservice by saying he was never the same after the injury. Rubbish, he maybe couldn't play week in week out but his performances in champions league and especially home and away to Leeds were of the highest class. The champions of England had a midfield of 4 senior internationalists and the wee man was head and shoulders above them all for 3 hours. But for injury he would have left Rangers to be a star on the world stage
 
ssblue said:
Your second and third paragraphs are correct.

Your first isn't.

In an era with the likes of Gerrard and Lampard, Barry was the best young player in Britain.

Durrant was better.
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As I said, Durrant was just before my time so I could be wrong.

I rate Ferguson that highly that I struggle to accept Durrant was better if that makes sense?
 
insanicdrunk said:
Far from it tbh., I doubt anyone that has picked Durrant wouldn;t take peak Ferguson in the team tomorrow.
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Was merely meaning it’s very split.

I’m unfortunately old enough to remember Durrant well (unfortunate to be old, not to be able to see Durrant) but can’t get past the fact that his career at the top level was finished at aged 21.

That’s why I think Barry.
 
Disraeli said:
I was too young to appreciate peak Durrant but surprised by the way this thread is going.

Ferguson at the age of 21/22 was going toe-to-toe with the likes of Effenberg, Matthäus, Scholes and Ince and playing them all off the pitch.

By the time he left us in 2003, he had added goals to his game, the one thing the young Fergie was lacking.
He suffered a serious knee injury not long having joined Blackburn. I’d wager he’d have left Blackburn for one of the real giants of the EPL within a year or two had he avoided that.

A bit like Durrant in that sense, although of course Ferguson’s injury was not inflicted in an act of sheer malicious evil.
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The way Durrant was playing for us up until that injury made me sure he would have gone to Italy, they were the biggest players in the league markets at the time, and Durrant as well as Davie Cooper would have settled in well in Italy alongside the company of Gulllit, Rijkaard and Van Basten, they were that good,

Allin all it is not really fair to compare Barry and Durranty because they played in different positions and were completely different players, but I can tell anyone now, from my recollections, the way Durrant was playing for us, we would not have been able to keep him if a big offer from Italy came in, and at that time, that is what I expected and feared
 
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Diego Maradona said:
Was merely meaning it’s very split.

I’m unfortunately old enough to remember Durrant well (unfortunate to be old, not to be able to see Durrant) but can’t get past the fact that his career at the top level was finished at aged 21.

That’s why I think Barry.
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Fair dos just that marmite means you either love it or hate it.
 
Durrant every time. He still had a more than decent career but it does make me sick to think of THAT tackle and the way it's celebrated by the scum in Aberdeen to this day. We and Scotland were robbed of a truly great talent and you can only guess of the heights he may have achieved.
 
Barry Ferguson 2002/03 was sensational, as good a season from a midfielder you'll struggle to find.
But for me if Ian Durrant had the chance to fulfill his potential he would have been truly world class so for me its wee Durranty.
 
Tough question and hard to choose as both were magnificent. But Durrant was getting better and better just before he got assaulted and from what I saw of him at the time, he was special.
 
I think it's a difficult comparison to Durrant was an exceptional talent that was robbed of his best years with that injury now and he be paying again very quickly. When he played he was exceptional at times after but never the same but he was a big game player for us. He could have moved to any league in the world.

Barry was different type of player but also a driving force for us and at times his sheer will to win to us pulled us through games we had no right to win. He to had the knee cap injury that I think stopped him becoming as good as he could have been. With out that injury he would have ended up at arsenal or man u

Tbh id have then both in the team
 
Diego Maradona said:
Was merely meaning it’s very split.

I’m unfortunately old enough to remember Durrant well (unfortunate to be old, not to be able to see Durrant) but can’t get past the fact that his career at the top level was finished at aged 21.

That’s why I think Barry.
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Finished at 21?

Durrant was a huge part of the team that nearly made the first Champions League final and that was after coming back from 3 years out of the game.

He never reached his previous levels but he was still one hell of a player.
 
Ferguson best midfielder at the club in my lifetime. Could totally control a game. A really class player. Not a class human being but a first class footballer.
 
As others have said Durrant had all the attributes to go right to the top of the game. He really could have been a world superstar. I know it is easy to get sentimental looking back but he really was so naturally gifted. He was chopped down in his prime and that ultimately meant that we can only suggest what he might have done in the game. Barry was a great player who became a great captain but for me Durrant had the ability to have mixed it with the best.
 
Durrant was a once in generation player incredible technical quality made goals scored goals could change a match with 1 piece of inspiration and quality

Barry was also a fantastic player and a very good rangers captain (. Apart from Le Guen era ) but everytime you left after watching Durrant you knew you had witnessed something very very special
 
dh1963 said:
2 wonderful midfield players who came through the ranks and who gave us iconic Tim slaying moments.
The 2 best players to come through our youth system in the last 40 years.

The Ian Durrant pre injury 1986 to 1988.
The Barry Ferguson 1999 to 2003 before he went to Blackburn.

I genuinely don't think there has been another Scottish born midfield player since Souness who comes close to either.

If you had to pick one of them from those peak years to come back in a time machine and play tomorrow, which one would you want?


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Ferguson
 
Not just because he went to my school,Bellahouston Academy, but because of his immense and precocious talent it has to be Durranty.
 
Durrant without a doubt he was the Star as was Derek Ferguson.

Rangers & Scotland were robbed of a talent by that Scummy Bastard Simpson who would have been undoubtedly as good as Souness was in his prime .

Our midfield albeit young in the early 80's had the potential to be the mainstay of Rangers & the National Team.

It's a Fucking Travesty the way it panned out for Durranty ,boy what a player we had on our books.

Durrant ,Ferguson ,McStay, Souness & Super Cooper on the wing should've been our International mainstay through the mid 80's .

He's Rangers Through & Through even after his comeback some of the performances were reminiscent of his early promise but ultimately that wee Bastard done him : he never really got what was due to him the Bastard.
 
Before his injury Durrant was special, in the right place at the right time, what a haircut too
 
Durrant for me, Barry was fantastic but he let himself and the club down. Not having a dig as we all make mistakes in life but I’d like to think that a more mature Ferguson would probably agree.
 
Johnny Yen said:
The older Bears I suspect will plump for Durrant, I would myself, quite simply he was an astonishing player who was robbed of his best years, but still battled back to have a magnificent career.

That said, Ferguson was a special player, he bossed games at the very highest level for us, he was a fantastic player.
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I'm an older Bear (aged 60) and stopped reading the thread to reply to you so I'm not sure what my peers are thinking.

They were two different players. Duranty had a mercurial quality and could find space where no normal player could not and had this uncanny ability to anticipate a ball - something that's exceptionally rare. When you watched him at Ibrox in his pomp - particularly if you watched from the upper stands - you could see that his running off the ball was exceptional.

Baz was very different. Durrant's real magic was off the ball. Barry's was on the ball and he had this capacity to take the heat out of an opposition's move and turn it to attack.

Plus Barry added goals to his midfield prowess.

On balance? I'd go with Ferguson.
 
Chester Loyal said:
Im convinced now :D
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I’m guessing it’s an age thing.
I grew up on Super, Cooper and Durrant.

So I’ve seen both peak Durrant and Peak Barry.
I’d imagine most (and I stress most, not all!) folk around my age or older (early 40’s... just!) will go for Durrant as they’ve also seen both.

When you get to the 30 somethings who grew up on Barry and only really saw Durrant on videos and then YouTube and can’t really separate the before and after of his career (understandably as they didn’t live through it/were too young to remember) they’re mostly going to go for Barry as that’s what they know/was there hero.


It’s like asking me if I’d take Walter or Struth.

Struth is probably the right answer, but I don’t remember him and I have fantastic memories of Walter, so Walter it is
 
Skeletor said:
I’m guessing it’s an age thing.
I grew up on Super, Cooper and Durrant.

So I’ve seen both peak Durrant and Peak Barry.
I’d imagine most (and I stress most, not all!) folk around my age or older (early 40’s... just!) will go for Durrant as they’ve also seen both.

When you get to the 30 somethings who grew up on Barry and only really saw Durrant on videos and then YouTube and can’t really separate the before and after of his career (understandably as they didn’t live through it/were too young to remember) they’re mostly going to go for Barry as that’s what they know/was there hero.


It’s like asking me if I’d take Walter or Struth.

Struth is probably the right answer, but I don’t remember him and I have fantastic memories of Walter, so Walter it is
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I agree with you, I think it probably is an age thing.

As I said in the post above, did Durrant ever put in a performance for us like Ferguson did in the 2002 cup final?
 
Chester Loyal said:
So was Ferguson though.

Watch his performances away at Leverkusen, away at Bayern and in the 2002 cup final. He’s incredible and he’s the captain, at 20/21/22 years old, in a team full of superstars.
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I agree I said earlier he was an exceptional player for Rangers and captain but Durrant just had that aurora that Something special
 
Chester Loyal said:
I agree with you, I think it probably is an age thing.

As I said in the post above, did Durrant ever put in a performance for us like Ferguson did in the 2002 cup final?
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Probably the 87-88 skol cup final against the sheep.

Good performances all over the park (Coopers free kick!)

Durrant was only 20 and was magnificent. His headed lay off to mccoist for the 1-2 then his run through the defenders was sublime.
 
Skeletor said:
Probably the 87-88 skol cup final against the sheep.

Good performances all over the park (Coopers free kick!)

Durrant was only 20 and was magnificent. His headed lay off to mccoist for the 1-2 then his run through the defenders was sublime.
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I was born 89 so it’s difficult to compare cup final performance v Celtic and Aberdeen as I never seen Aberdeen when they were good.

I just think it’s an age thing tbh, there’s no right answer to the question.
 
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