Barry Ferguson, Lyall Cameron and Celtic v Aberdeen in spotlight

It was no surprise to hear Barry Ferguson admit that he thought his dream of becoming manager of his beloved Rangers had long since gone.

The 47-year-old has been out of football management since resigning as boss of part-time Alloa Athletic nearly exactly three years ago.

Ferguson’s managerial journey started promisingly when he helped Blackpool avoid relegation from the Championship as caretaker player-manager, but it stalled when Clyde lost a promotion play-off final to Queen’s Park and he left the following season with the Bully Wee sitting eighth in Scottish League 2.

He resurrected his reputation by leading Kelty Hearts to the Lowland League title then a play-off win over Brechin City that took the Fife club into the Scottish Professional Football League for the first time.

However, rather than seek a further promotion, he jumped up a league and moved the 19 miles along the road to Recreation Park only to resign before the end of his first term with Alloa sitting eighth in League 1.

Ferguson’s Rangers role has more recently been as a club ambassador and appearances for legends teams in charity games, but now he has been thrust back into the spotlight as head coach until the summer.

Speaking on Rangers TV, publicly at least, he seemed to accept his role was merely to steady the ship until a permanent successor to Clement is chosen.

However, deep down anyone in his position, especially someone who was so adored at Ibrox as a player, will be hoping to be such a success that he forces the board, or the potential new owners negotiating a takeover, to think again.

In former team-mates Neil McCann and Billy Dodds, he has certainly surrounded himself with assistants with more experience of managing at higher levels and is already promising changes to make Rangers more attack-minded.

Indeed, their first game in charge brings them head-to-head with another former Rangers player who has long been linked with the Ibrox job – Derek McInnes.

McInnes has won two (and lost two) of his home games against Rangers as Kilmarnock boss, while the Ayrshire side of have won six of their latest 12 home games against the Glasgow side, losing only five.

The latest victory was by a single goal in October and they go into Wednesday’s game having won five of their latest seven home games overall.

However, Rangers gained revenge by thrashing Kilmarnock 6-0 at Ibrox in December and Ferguson will be hoping to match the 3-1 wins on their latest two Premiership away days to cast off the blues that followed Saturday’s defeat by St Mirren and led to Clement’s departure.