I’ve said this before, but if Barry Ferguson had stayed and continued the way he was, he’d have been heading for being considered the Greatest ever Ranger.
He was 25 when he left and had won 2 trebles, one of which he captained and dragged us to.
He was an absolutely phenomenal sitting midfielder who could dominate and control games, and he’d just added goals and late runs into the box in the 18 months before he left.
Unfortunately he left and got injured, and the Barry that returned was a shadow of the player with a much poorer attitude.
He still had the talent, but the position and role he wanted/ was asked to play were different, and I don’t really look back fondly at much of his second spell apart from maybe the initial first few months which took us to helicopter Sunday.
First 5 years though, as good a midfielder as I’ve seen in my 30 odd years and his performances in the CL make it comfortable to mention him alongside Souness, Gascoigne, Van Bronckhorst and Albertz as top midfielders we’ve had.