Peak Durrant or peak Barry?

dh1963

Well-Known Member
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?


 
With Barry we seen how good he was, could be argued he could still have been better. With Durrant though, it will always remain a "what if". Much higher than Barry achieved I feel. I would still pick Durrant though on what we did get to see.
 
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.
 
Would it be outlandish of me to say that Durant pre injury was up there with Paul Gascoigne in terms of talent and skill etc?
Gazza's words in 2013:
PAUL GASCOIGNE was taken to school for 90 minutes by Ian Durrant and knew he’d been jousting with a midfield genius.

Gazza will never forget the Under-21 clash between Scotland and England at Pittodrie in February 1988.

Even if he tried to, Durrant wouldn’t let him.

England may have won the Euro Championship qualifier 1-0 — but the Geordie maverick’s lasting memories are of losing his own tussle with an Ibrox prodigy at the peak of his powers.

Their confrontation came just eight months before Durrant’s knee was wrecked on the same turf in a horror tackle from Neil Simpson during a fiery Aberdeen-Gers clash.

Gazza recalled: “I knew Durranty before I came to Ibrox because I had played against him in the Under-21s.

“The press around that game were billing it as a competition to see who was the best young midfielder in Britain — and Durrant BATTERED me.”

With Gers pal Derek Ferguson and Celtic’s Peter Grant as his sidekicks in midfield, Durrant bossed it.

Somehow, the Scots still slipped to defeat.

Yet Gazza knew he’d been in a game.

He added: “I went home to my dad and told him I had just played against one of the best midfielders I’d ever come across.

“Durranty was absolutely outstanding.”
 
At least as good as if not better
This regularly said on here. I believe Wilkins said something about Durrant maybe being better as well?
Anyway, I know Durrant got injured 18 months before Italia ‘90, but Gascoigne was one of the players of the tournament and took his team to a World Cup semi.
Durrant struggled to get in a team that had Paul McStay as its lynchpin.
There’s no doubt Durrant had incredible potential, and we were robbed of a magnificent talent, but Gascoigne also suffered horrendous injuries.
When both were at Ibrox, Gascoigne was absolutely miles ahead of him and produced performances at a level that even peak Durrant couldn’t reach.
I’m sorry, but outside OF a KP/Ibrox/FF mythology bubble, if you tried to tell anyone that Durrant was better than Gascoigne you’d be laughed out of town.
 
Durrant, great player, he also just had that quality to appear in the box. Similar to Arfield, but at ten levels above. He'd love Goldson's long balls as well!
 
Fair enough asking the question OP, but it's Durrant by a mile. One of the great what ifs in his career. Still get angry thinking about that challenge,for it wa snot a tackle
 
Who would you's compare Durrant to? I was young at the time but my memory of him was bursting into the box and scored goals.

Where as Barry ran games. I would have went for Barry but as I say my memory pre injury is a bit sketchy
 
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?



The only people who choose Barry must not have seen Durrant in his prime. Dynamite.
 
This regularly said on here. I believe Wilkins said something about Durrant maybe being better as well?
Anyway, I know Durrant got injured 18 months before Italia ‘90, but Gascoigne was one of the players of the tournament and took his team to a World Cup semi.
Durrant struggled to get in a team that had Paul McStay as its lynchpin.
There’s no doubt Durrant had incredible potential, and we were robbed of a magnificent talent, but Gascoigne also suffered horrendous injuries.
When both were at Ibrox, Gascoigne was absolutely miles ahead of him and produced performances at a level that even peak Durrant couldn’t reach.
I’m sorry, but outside OF a KP/Ibrox/FF mythology bubble, if you tried to tell anyone that Durrant was better than Gascoigne you’d be laughed out of town.
We’re talking pre injury Durrant here though.
Even if he’d never kicked a ball again after the injury he’d still have been one of the best ever players to pull on the famous royal blue
 
It's impossible to tell how good Durrant could've become but he looked like he could've gone to the very top.

Ferguson was one of the best midfielders we've ever had.
 
Never got to see peak Durant, when I first started going he was still recovering from his injury.

He must have been something special if he was better than peak Barry.
something special alright. Didn't get to THAT game at Pittodrie but watching the highlights that night I was screaming like a madman at the challenge (still am)
 
Ian Durrant!
One of my favourite Rangers players & what a player he was!
Outstanding when he was on form!

To be fair, Barry Ferguson wasn't bad either!!
 
Durrant was quite something.
Like him and Mols, injury cut them short in their prime.
 
Durrant. He would have been a star at Italia 90 and we would have had all the top teams in Europe clamouring to sign him. Yes, he was that good.
 
I am opting for Durrant but this is very close in my opinion because Barry Ferguson was an outstanding talent. The only thing robbing Ferguson of genuine world class status was perhaps a yard of pace yet you would not really notice it as he read the game so well.

Ferguson would control a game. Durrant would win you the game.
 
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