BARRY FERGUSON'S problem last week did not begin and end with his mindless boozing at Loch Lomond or his juvenile V-sign at Hampden. Both were offensive and warranted the heaviest punishment possible, but there were other things driving Rangers and the SFA to their doomsday conclusions, suspension and likely eviction from his club and a life ban from his country.
The ned in Ferguson brought him to the edge but it was his own waning ability to influence football matches that did for him. In recent times he has become a shadow of his former self, little more than a passenger at the heart of the Rangers and Sco
tland midfield, only occasionally capable of grabbing matches by the scruff of the neck as he once did as a matter of routine.
In the stands at Ibrox they've been wanting him out for an awfully long time, recognising that he is too often slow and ponderous in possession and believing that whenever he is not in the team they seem to play with a little more zip and a few less inhibitions. It was instructive looking at some of the Rangers websites at various junctures of Ferguson's demise last week. After the boozing became public there was condemnation for the captain but also heavy criticism of George Burley for allowing it to happen. After the V-signs were flashed on Wednesday evening the flak for the manager faded to half-nothing and the denunciation of Ferguson rose steeply, almost to the point of cruelty.
Ferguson has become expendable, that's the simple truth. He was too full of himself, too arrogant by far to realise it, but that's what's happened. Scotland have Darren Fletcher, Scott Brown, James Morrison, Barry Robson, Paul Hartley, Kevin Thomson for the centre of midfield. Ferguson, the way he has been playing, is eminently disposable.
Rangers have Pedro Mendes, Steven Davis, Kevin Thomson and Maurice Edu. Not a stellar cast but these are straightened times at Ibrox and if Ferguson goes then his £30,000 a week goes with him and for Sir David Murray that's no bad thing.
For Ferguson, the end has come quickly, but it was coming soon in any event. Nobody is going to mount a convincing case that had Scott Brown been in Ferguson's shoes last week that he would, today, be disowned by the SFA and be on his way out of Gordon Strachan's Celtic. The crisis would have been managed differently and Brown would have survived on both fronts. Of course, as unpredictable as the Celtic midfielder is, it would be hard to picture him giving the V-signs up to the cameras as Ferguson and McGregor did. Brown seems to be his own man. But he would have been spared because he is needed. Ferguson is not needed any longer.
The injury Ferguson suffered on the opening day of pre-season was a tough one to take. He did his ankle and hasn't been at the races in many of the games he has played since his comeback in November. Rangers people will tell you straight that they are a better unit with Mendes and Davis in the middle and a combination of John Fleck, Nacho Novo, DaMarcus Beasley or Steven Naismith out wide.
They'll tell you to look at the stats for proof. So you look at the stats and you see that Rangers have played 20 SPL games since Ferguson made his return to the first team and have dropped 21 points. It's not all down to the captain, but when your chairman and your chief executive and your manager already have doubts about you for various reasons – behaving like he behaved last week was an invitation for them to act.
The name of Paul le Guen was mentioned often last week. No doubt, Sir David Murray mentioned Le Guen himself at various times. The Frenchman had been treated shabbily by Ferguson and his cohorts. The Le Guen era saw the manager try to rid the club of its drinking culture, starting with Ferguson, stripping him of the captaincy and sticking him on the transfer list.
That period brought out the worst in Ferguson. The worst of him until, that is, last week's escapades. Burley was another manager that Ferguson felt he could take on and put in his place. Drinking, abusing a coach, V-signing, the idiocy of the midfielder knew no bounds, the arrogance was out of control.
Ferguson and Allan McGregor would have woken on Thursday morning to the sound of a football nation in uproar. Newspapers, radio, television, websites, e-mails – every conceivable medium was full of their antics, carrying images and condemnation of their V-signs at Hampden where earlier they had carried condemnation of their drinking at Loch Lomond, calling for their heads as Scotland players and demanding censure from their bosses at Ibrox. If the pair had half a brain between them they would have realised in a split second that they needed to do something to repair their battered reputations – and do something quickly. Get another apology out there. Grovel. Lay themselves bare in front of the country and hope that it would be enough to save their skins. They did none of that. They issued a statement when it was too late. Ferguson's timing used to be impeccable. Now it has gone.
His valedictory interview in the wake of his expulsion from future Scotland squads was clearly emotional for him. His voice trembled a little. It could have been an act but it looked and sounded more like a man who had just woken up to the implications of what he had done. He was partly in shock.
A week before the Holland match Ferguson spoke to some of us Sunday newspapers and chatted about his passion for his country and his dream about taking them to a major championship. By that, he meant the World Cup next year because, at 31, this was his final chance.
You believed what he said but then how do those seemingly heartfelt words tally with his all-night boozing session just three days before a game that would have, if it had gone wrong, ended all prospects of a World Cup next year? They don't. Maybe there are two versions of the same man, the thoughtful guy who spoke to us before Holland and the idiot who thought it would be a good idea to present photographers with two fingers for the front page.
The dark side of his personality has not been in evidence for a while, not since Le Guen was driven out. But it re-emerged in the public glare at Loch Lomond and it was, by all accounts, an ugly sight. The captain of Scotland drunk as a skunk in front of young families. What a chaotic end to a career.
In the end everybody turned their back on him. Scotland, Rangers, both sets of fans, and the organ that so often championed his cause, the Sun. Yesterday, they claimed that Ferguson is wanted by three clubs in three different countries, by Dick Advocaat's Zenit St Petersburg, by Fulham and by some team in Qatar.
Russia, London or the Middle East. The truth is that Ferguson doesn't want to go any further than Govan, but he's ruined that now. A lot of bevvy and a load of ego got him into this mess and at this stage of his life his dwindling ability is not going to get him out of it.
The full article contains 1281 words and appears in Scotland On Sunday newspaper.
