Barry Ferguson lays blame at one Rangers ace as ‘bad mistake’ helps Hibs claim Ibrox victory
Who knows, perhaps one day in the future, if James Tavernier or Jack Butland release an autobiography detailing the ups and downs of their Rangers careers, they will explain how it feels to be on the wrong end of a Barry Ferguson eruption.
Andrea Pirlo famously described Antonio Conte’s Krakatoa-esque post-match fury is less of a telling off and more of a verbal ‘assault’.
“When he talks, his words assault you,” Pirlo said in his ‘I Think Therefore I Play’ memoir. “They crash through your mind, often quite violently, and settle deep within.”
And Rangers suffered a fifth successive home loss by the hands of Hibernian on Saturday afternoon – David Gray justifying his Manager of the Month award with a 2-0 scalp at Ibrox – a ‘fuming’ Ferguson was left spitting lava himself as he threatened to turn a defeated dressing room into ash.
It was a day of all-too familiar failings.
Jack Butland gifted Dylan Levitt the opener for Hibs. The defender’s speculative daisy-cutter squirmed underneath a goalkeeper who’s form since the turn of the year feels better suited to one of those YouTuber charity games than top-flight football.
Barry Ferguson rues Jack Butland ‘mistake’ as Hibs stun Rangers at Ibrox
Rangers then dominated possession, missed a number of openings with Cyriel Dessers the main culprit, before the in-form Martin Boyle ensured that Hibernian would become the fifth team in a row to send Ibrox into deathly despair after Queens Park, St Mirren, Motherwell and Fenerbahce.
“Worse than disappointing,” Ferguson seethed, heroic victories away from home at Celtic and in Istanbul fading fast. “Where do I start? How long have we got? A few home truths were told.
“That’s not a Rangers team. European games and Celtic games are the easiest to get up for. You’re playing for Glasgow Rangers, if you can’t get up for games of football then there’s something wrong. I’m fuming.
“I seriously need to go away myself, I’m the guy who picks the team and decides how we approach the game. I’ve made my mind up of how we will approach between now and end of the season. It’s not going to be pretty to watch.
“[I am] angry. Really angry in fact. That’s the most simple way I can put it. There’s no way I’m accepting that.
“I thought we started on the front foot before Hibs got the first goal. Another mistake from us [Butland gifting Levitt the opener after just eight minutes]. I said at half-time I need to see more, I want to see more aggression in our play and I never saw it. That’s the thing I’m raging with.
“I’m not going to kid anybody on. Hibs deserved it. They tackled harder, ran harder and wanted it more. It’s sore for me to say that.
“I get where you’re coming from with Jack. Listen, as I said, when I come up here, I’m open and honest. And I’ve said to Jack, it’s a bad mistake. He understands that.”
Ferguson promises ‘changes’ in Europa League clash against Athletic Bilbao
While Rangers have second place wrapped up already – Hibs are third but still 15 points adrift – Ferguson knows that such failings simply cannot be repeated if their Europa League journey is to continue beyond a quarter-final meeting with Athletic Bilbao.
Many Rangers fans have urged Ferguson to put Butland out of his misery and introduce Liam Kelly in his place. As the caretaker manager promises substantial alterations to his starting XI against the La Liga outfit, the blundering Butland is perhaps the most obvious candidate to make way.
“There will be a series of changes on Thursday night,” Ferguson adds. “If people aren’t going to run as hard as they need to, put in the level of effort that they need to, there will be changes.
“I’ve not watched Bilbao yet. I’m very much game to game. My staff have watched them but tonight I’ll have a mixture of watching today’s game again and will watch a lot of Bilbao.
“Europe doesn’t concern me because the atmosphere is there. It’s games like today where this club has struggled for far too long and it needs to fix that.
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