Brendan Rodgers yesterday admitted that he doesn’t know Barry Ferguson as their paths never crossed until recently when the football pundit and former Rangers FC captain was appointed as interim manager after the sacking of the Belgian Waffler, Philippe Clement…
Barry Ferguson made a dream start what might turn out to be a two-match rivalry with the Celtic boss, winning last month’s Scottish Premiership match at Celtic Park 3-2. Tomorrow could be Ferguson’s last Glasgow Derby in charge of the 2012 founded football club and if he’s not getting the job on a permanent basis then he’ll be determined to go out with a 100% record against Rodgers and become the first Ibrox boss ever to get the better of Brendan.
Both managers attended the Glasgow Cup Final at Firhill on Tuesday night
Rodgers, who met Ferguson at Firhill on Tuesday night at the Glasgow Cup Final, was yesterday asked for his thoughts on Ferguson and amid the nice words there’s an indication that the interim Ibrox boss is not really up to speed with the modern game and the current generation of players.
Here’s what Brendan Rodgers had to say about Ferguson in his time as interim manager of theRangers.
“Listen, I think it’s been a difficult one for Barry to come into. I think what Barry has done is he has helped connect the supporters and the club. He’s a player who had a great career there (at Ibrox).
‘It’s a different generation of player that you’re working with’
“The challenge for Barry to start coming in is that it’s a different generation of player that you’re working with to when they would have played and even coached a number of years back.
“So the generation of player now is totally different and obviously they’ll demand a greater standard and a greater consistency. I said before that you look at it over a period of time and you would say that it’s probably pretty much the same.
theRangers supporters can connect with Barry Ferguson
“Some really good European performances, a wee bit up and down in the league but I think the difference being that at least theRangers supporters, they can connect with Barry when he’s saying it and speaking it. I thought he spoke really well and very honest in his appraisal of his team. Then the fans can at least connect with that as, sort of one of their own really. So that’s where they’re at.
“I think we’ve seen that they’ve played well in games and like I say other games that they would have wanted to have done better in. But for us really we have to go in and perform in this game.”
Charmingly devastating from the Celtic manager
Reading between the lines Brendan seems to be damning Ferguson with faint praise. Charmingly devastating from the Celtic manager.
Listen to Brendan Rodgers’ media conference below…
Help raise funds for Celtic Youth Academy by playing the Celtic Pools Weekly Lottery and you could win up to £25,000. The lottery is £1 per week. Click on image above to join.
More must-reads: