Barry Ferguson: No regrets on Paul Le Guen fall-out

[simplythebest 11,453]

PLG's first game was amazing as well. We beat Motherwell 2-1 away and it should have been about 8. Thomas Buffel played like he was Eden Hazard.

First few games under him we actually played some very decent stuff even though the results were dodgy

[the goal machine 7,804]

Did Sionko not have a belter that day too?

Buffel was a huge letdown, done well in the pish games but the bigger ones he went hiding.

Yeah, I think so.

[TheBluenose1972 1,405]

Feels odd having a normal conversation about The Rangers on here Odd but enjoyable.

[cushynumber 25,178]

Le Guen never really reached the heights of football management everybody thought he would - i remember it was seen as a real coup us getting him at the time.

[The Godfather 72,003]

I remember Fabrice Fernandez against Motherwell and thinking he was gonna be a superstar

[Sket 13,610]

I remember Fabrice Fernandez against Motherwell and thinking he was gonna be a superstar

Didn't he score an absolute fucking screamer against them from out wide?

[Sket 13,610]

Does he not manage some middle eastern country like Oman now?

PLG was just fucking awful. Just a complete disaster from beginning to end. It amazes me that you still get some people who are like "we should have given him time" and "what an opportunity we wasted" because if we had stuck with him we would probably be a championship team now and it wouldn't have taken an administration to do it.

Spot on

Guy was a disaster, we would have been lucky to make top 6 if he stayed.

[The Godfather 72,003]

Didn't he score an absolute fucking screamer against them from out wide?

Aye, was a rocket

Of course turned to shit after that.

[BlueSuedeSambas 53,863]

Remember when he sent Phil Bardlsey packing for going into a hard tackle in training

[The Godfather 72,003]

Remember when he sent Phil Bardlsey packing for going into a hard tackle in training

Did he not bring in Lee Martin too?

He was honking.

[theblueskyeman 528]

I was at Inverness that night, pretty sure it was Rankin that scored a late winner, I honest to fuck wanted Le Guen to succeed but almost every single Rangers fan at the game that night was massively pissed off, it was a horrible night around the Christmas week I think and iys a fuck off 7/8 hour round journey, it might have been the exuberance of youth but I'd have had a thing or two to say to Bear that night who told me it would be all OK, we were out the Title race by Halloween, we were a total soft touch, we had just come off a 3rd place finish and could see it going that way again, I can't say I fully disagree with Ferguson taking issue with PLG's assessment that night, no-one should be accepting those type of weak performances

[theblueskyeman 528]

I was in Inverness that night but ended up in the pub and rembe r watchin rankins shot go off the bar then the camera panned toward le Guen and his head went down into his hands like he'd admitted defeat. Thought at the time it was one of the lowest points but fuck me little did I know

[BlueSuedeSambas 53,863]

Did he not bring in Lee Martin too?

He was honking.

Man Utd wonderkid

[TheBluenose1972 1,405]

Did he not bring in Lee Martin too?

He was honking.

Aye he was awful, Bardsley was good though until PLG fell out with him for tackling in training

[TheKingObv 10,647]

Did Sionko not have a belter that day too?

Buffel was a huge letdown, done well in the pish games but the bigger ones he went hiding.

Aye Sionko scored a lucky goal in a 1v1 with the keeper. Think it hit the keeper then back off himself and into the net.

Always looked good for the Czech team which made it weirder how shite he was here.

[TheKingObv 10,647]

.

[simplythebest 11,453]

I remember Fabrice Fernandez against Motherwell and thinking he was gonna be a superstar

Boab Malcolm scored that day as well I think?

[Tontospal 1,116]

Oh...and tell him to make a decent contribution to the same club that funded his extravagant pay via the EBT scheme. Has he paid back that loan per chance? Another that was a pure Rangers man = gravy train.

That is a fair point that has been ignored by ex players and the media alike.

So many made a fortune from the club and whilst some were great on the pitch for us their response in our of need was poor to say the least.

Green got the club for £6.5m, well within the reach of a consortium of ex players (and their agents/advisors) if they were interested.

The last few years would have been somewhat different if the club had been taken over by heroes who had taken the club to their hearts.

There would almost certainly have been no boycotts or empty stands.

A missed opportunity for them and us.

[CanadianBacon 2,088]

Former skipper Barry Ferguson insists he would "shake hands" with his former Rangers manager Paul Le Guen if they were to meet again.

The Frenchman ended a brief reign at Ibrox just a few days after stripping Ferguson of the captaincy.

Le Guen claimed the midfielder was undermining him in the dressing room.

But Ferguson told BBC Scotland: "I respected him as a person and as a manager. I never went over his head or behind his back."

Le Guen arrived in Glasgow in the summer of 2006 after successful spells with Rennes and Lyon but was in charge at Ibrox for just seven months.

Ferguson said he had "no regrets" over the fall-out, revealing that he had expressed his frustration after a loss at Inverness Caley Thistle, adding "there was no fisty-cuffs, no shouting".

"Inverness bullied us that day," he recalled on BBC Radio Scotland's Sportsound. "We went 1-0 up and they ended up winning 2-1.

"At that stage we'd had a couple of bad results, home and away. Paul Le Guen came into the dressing room and said 'don't worry, it'll be all right if we all stick together'.

"It was about the sixth or seventh time we'd had a difficult result and I'd just had enough.

"I said 'we're Rangers and I got brought up with winning as the only thing - a defeat is never acceptable'.

"I never had an argument with him. I said a couple of things - maybe five or 10 seconds - and he just looked at me.

"As captain, I thought I had to say something, I was sitting down. A few of the other guys had a word to say.

"I never once undermined him. There's a limit as a captain and as a player."

Following Le Guen's departure, Ferguson was reinstated as captain by Walter Smith and led Rangers to a cup double and the Uefa Cup final in the following season.

However, he would once again lose the captaincy at Rangers in April 2009, following misconduct while on Scotland duty.

He left for Birmingham at the end of the season and declined a later approach to add to his 45 international caps.

"That's the only thing in football - if I could turn back the clock - I would," said Ferguson of the drinking session after defeat by the Netherlands and making V-signs on the bench a few days later against Iceland.

"It was immature, just silly. I don't know what I was doing. I was on a different planet.

"To captain your country is the ultimate (honour) and I just messed it up - I deserved everything I got."

As well as bringing an end to his Scotland career, Smith gave him a two-week club suspension.

"I knew that was it," Ferguson explained. "I needed to go away and reinvent myself. I needed to give myself a shake and grow up.

"I sent the family away on holiday because I needed a long, hard look at myself. I spent a week locked in the house.

"A lot of clubs wanted me at the time but after what happened with Scotland they were humming and hawing and (then Birmingham boss) Alex McLeish took a gamble.

"He was a manager I had worked with before and had success with but he wasn't completely sure.

"He gave me a chance and I had a great time at Birmingham. I knew I had to prove that I could still play at the highest level."

Ferguson played 431 games in two spells at Rangers, returning in 2005 after 18 months with Blackburn Rovers.

He admits the pull of his old team was too much to resist but thinks it may have been best to stick it out in England.

"I struggled in a new environment then I shattered my kneecap and was out for seven months," Ferguson said of his time at Ewood Park.

"But I came back and was playing really well, I was captain. (Manager) Graeme Souness left to go to Newcastle and wanted to take me there and there was another couple of clubs who had enquired.

"Then I got a call from Rangers and that was me. I didn't want to talk to anybody else.

"Looking back, I should have stayed to make a better career for myself, maybe get a chance with a top six, top eight team."

He's being economical with the truth regards the PLG story, but hey...what did I expect from Ma' Baw?

I recall bumping into this big-headed individual in Portugal, the summer he'd been with B'rum and they were relegated.

Mrs Bacon and I were sat at a street bar enjoying the weather and Mr Big-Shot & family arrived (with an entourage) and sat down at a pizza restaurant opposite us.

I say 'everyone' when I meant, 'everyone barring Mr Big-Shot'. he stood with his hands on the back of the chair looking this way and that with that "do you know who I am?" look on his little fizzog.

He and his then team had just been relegated.......and he's out there posing like a fucking superstar.

Mrs Bacon spotted me snarling. "What's up?" she asked. I nodded over at Billy Big-Boots' direction and said, "Let's move......if I stay here I'll end up saying something to that little tosser!"

We left.

Thankfully I didn't happen onto him for the rest of our stay.

Anyway....he's a Hamilton Accies fan.

He'd "love" to manage his "home-town team!"

[the goal machine 7,804]

Did he not bring in Lee Martin too?

He was honking.

I remember him tearing Hearts apart at Ibrox but aye, he was shite.

[cr3_bear 14,892]

So bad results were not acceptable under leguen Barry but under McCoist he just needs needs more time ? I

[Jimfanciesthedude 24,570]

people thinking we'd have been relegated or finished 6th under PLG

remember he took over a team that finished 3rd the season before, spent a few million on it and had us 2nd place and undefeated in EUROPE, thats right undefeated in europe

we'd have finished 2nd that season still and possibly went further than we did in europe (smith took us to spain, needing to score, and started with sebo up front himself ) and then PLG could have been scrutinised to see if he had fixed anything, remember that svensson was one of the highest rated defenders in his country at the time he signed for us

[thebluedoo 2,652]

An excellent midfielder and captain, his wee torn face when he ripped into any players having a stinker or conceding a shoddy goal could propel them on to win games regularly. Never forget him throwing an icepack at Martin Oneill at Hampden from the bench

Telling his side of the story, imo take with pinch of salt.

[Wawrinka 88]

Barry Ferguson is a rent a quote prick

His second spell at Rangers amounted to 1 good season out of 5

[thebluedoo 2,652]

Barry Ferguson is a rent a quote prick

His second spell at Rangers amounted to 1 good season out of 5

Rangers, Uefa cup (Runners-up): 2007–08 Scottish Premier League (5): 1998–99, 1999-00, 2002–03, 2004–05, 2008–09Scottish Cup (5): 1999-00, 2001–02, 2002–03, 2007–08, 2008–09

Scottish League Cup (5): 1998–99, 2001–02, 2002–03, 2004–05, 2007–08

His first spell saw him play 151 times scoring 24, his second spell he played 137 while scoring 20 times, A treble in both spells

IMHO not too bad for a "rent a quote prick" if you ask me.