Rangers have made a Barry Ferguson sized mistake as Ibrox chiefs told he has 'f****** finger on the pulse'
John Hughes made a beeline for Barry Ferguson in the aftermath of Saturday’s match against Hibs at Easter Road
He turned up at Easter Road hoping to see his Hibs side sign off for the summer in style.
But by the time the final whistle sounded on Saturday, John Hughes felt an overwhelming compulsion to seek out the man in the opposition’s dugout and to shower him with praise.
Which is why Big Yogi was stunned around 24 hours later when Rangers pulled the trigger on Barry Ferguson and his backroom team to clear the way for the next permanent managerial appointment.
The former Celtic iron man firmly believes Ferguson deserved a one year contract to prove that he was already exactly the right man in precisely the right place.
Hughes is convinced that some other major club could now benefit from the decision made by sporting director Kevin Thelwell and Gretar Steinsson of the San Francisco 49ers to cut Ferguson loose after three months holding the Ibrox fort.
“No I don’t think it’s the right decision – I would have given Barry another year,” Hughes said with a surprisingly passionate sense of indignation for a man whose ambassadorial duties at the weekend were carried out on behalf of his own boyhood club.
But this one has stung his sensibilities as a died-in-the wool football man. He added: “I’ve watched the job he’s been doing with this team.
“I see the improvements he’s made along with Neil McCann and Billy Dodds who are two of the most experienced men in Scottish football.
“Yes, sometimes the results haven’t gone their way but that can happen to any team. But some of the football they’ve been playing – and again on Saturday against Hibs – has been terrific.
“Total football doesn’t always guarantee you’re going to win. But it goes a long way.
“That’s what Barry has been trying to bring to the table. In the first 20 minutes on Saturday they could have had at least two or three goals. It was just the final pass that wasn’t quite there.
“And that’s all coming straight from the training pitch – the wee round the corners, give us it back – the way Barry played football himself.
“I was standing watching him giving instructions from the sideline. When they were going forward he was trying to get them back and I’m sitting there saying to myself, ‘He’s a football man’.
“What I love about him is he doesn’t have any ego. He went down the divisions to do his apprenticeship.
“But that shouldn’t be held against him now. On the back of what he’s done at Rangers he should have got the job. And now that they’ve decided to look elsewhere I really believe there’s a big job waiting for him out there.
“I honestly do and I’m just hoping he sees that himself. I know he only wanted to be the Rangers manager and he should have got it. But if he wants to get back into management I believe he’ll not be lacking offers.”
Hughes made a beeline for Ferguson in the aftermath of Saturday’s match to congratulate him on a job well done. What neither man knew at the time was that Ferguson’s job was done and dusted.
Hughes said: “I’m not frightened to say it, 100 per cent Rangers have made a mistake.
“I do think I have an expertise in football. I’ve worked with provincial clubs, I’ve won cups, I’ve got a right good CV and every team that I’ve coached has played football the way it’s meant to be played. And that’s exactly what I’ve seen from Barry’s side since he took over.
“Barry says it as it is, in terms of what he wants from his players and the hard work they’re doing on the training pitch
“But even against Hibs at the weekend he was so switched on tactically it was so impressive to watch and I said that to him after the game.
“He knew what was going to develop in the game. He knew his side would dominate the ball and create chances and that Hibs would be looking to hit them on the break and counter them.That’s exactly how the game panned out.
“He’s about total football. He knows what he wants, he knows how to control the game. It’s not hoof ball – they play it out from the back, they play through the lines into midfield.
“He’s getting the best out of the likes of Raskin and Barron. I was also asking him about the striker Dessers and he said he loved him.
“Yes, he misses a few chances but he keeps coming back for more. He said, ‘He’s very infectious Yogi because he works his tail off’.
“When I was talking to him I was saying to myself, ‘You’ve got your f****** finger on the pulse. You know exactly what’s required at this football club’.
“There was some guy standing next to him wearing a Rangers blazer and tie. I was going all in in what I was saying to Barry then I thought to myself, ‘Oops! Have I overstepped the mark here?’
“But I was just speaking freely because I can see it. I can see what he’s got as a manager and what he’s trying to do.
“Let’s not forget what they’ve done twice against the Scottish champions as well and he outfoxed Jose Mourinho at Fenerbahce. So it’s there. It’s definitely there.”
And Hughes insists Fergie’s background as a Rangers academy product and title-winning skipper should have tipped him over the edge when Thelwell and Steinsson set out on their search for a new man.
He said: “In a way I know I’m contradicting myself but I do think his connection and love for the club are important as well.
“Yes, I like what I’m seeing through purely football eyes but then when you look at who is behind it and how passionate these guys are for their football club then that’s what it’s all about.
“I remember when we used to come up against Rangers. They had two centre-backs, Richard Gough and John Brown. They had Stuart McCall in midfield and McCoist and Hateley up front. They had Andy Goram in goals.
“Right through the spine of the team they had guys who lived and breathed Rangers. But Rangers don’t have that any more.
“Barry knows that too and I agree with it. You need guys in there who know what the club is all about – guys who think, ‘This is the best club I’m ever going to be at – I need to give it everything I’ve got!’.
“That’s what they were bringing back to Rangers and the club would have been a lot better off for it. It seems madness to me that it counted for nothing where getting the job was concerned.”