Barry Ferguson could be at his work as coach in the Rangers for only four games, somehow he feels much more, with a fifth tumultuous to come to Celtic on Sunday.
In that short time, the former Ibrox captain says he has learned things about himself.
“I was surprised that I haven’t left my head,” he said, smiling. “I will leave it to maturity. Now I am 47 years old. So at some point, you have to mature.”
I was talking on Wednesday afternoon, before the night that induces Bedlam against Fenerbahce. Surely in the history of the Rangers there has never been a loss at home, a fourth record followed, that caused such happy scenes.
The surreal nature of the occasion is in line with a team that almost challenges the description at this time. Ferguson says that he is now quieter than he used to be, but his players, for good and sick, are testing their karma.
“As a player, he was a fighter, I was angry, but that was just me,” he said. “It was just passion. Sometimes I let it overcome the line, but that is what happens when you are young.
“I will lose my head from time to time, but I have things I can do to try to calm down. And I also have a good staff behind me, which is important.
“They will calm me. As you probably have seen, they just give me a little pat on the shoulder to say: ‘correct, here, calm it out.”
Having seen Fenerbahce in penalties, there is another way below.
While his team prepares for the greatest domestic challenge, Ferguson opened in other things that have changed since he assumed the position of Philippe Clement, a position he will occupy until the end of the season.
Now that it is inside, has you altered your view about any of the Rangers players that may once criticized and now train? “Some of them,” he replied. Cyriel Dessers is undoubtedly one of them.
“Yes, look, I have always said that the only thing you can’t label against Big Cyriel was his work ethics,” Ferguson said. “It’s a grafter. I think sometimes its positional sense could be better.
“We have talked about it. He understands that. There are parts of his game that he knows he can improve and we know that we can improve it. He is very open. And many of the children are like that, whether you are 30, 31 years old, or if you are 18 or 19 years old, you never stop learning.”
As an expert, Ferguson thought he could see what was wrong with the rangers, or at least, part of what was wrong. “I felt looking at the team, sometimes it was a bit pedestrian,” he said.
“That is perhaps a European style and I understand it totally. I think that when you play in a club like Rangers, it must be a very high tempo. When I saw them, I didn’t know the game plan.”
