‘People think I’m strange because I enjoy pressure’ – Ferguson on Rangers task

Barry Ferguson might be in his job as Rangers head coach for just four games – somehow it feels like a whole lot more – with a tumultuous fifth to come on Sunday away to Celtic.

In that short time the former Ibrox captain says he’s learned things about himself.

“I’ve been surprised that I’ve not went off my head as much,” he said, smiling. “I’ll put that down to maturity. I’m 47 now. So at some stage, you’ve got to mature.”

He was talking on Wednesday afternoon, before the bedlam-inducing night against Fenerbahce. Surely in Rangers’ history there’s never been a home loss – a record fourth in a row – that’s sparked such joyous scenes.

The surreal nature of the occasion is in keeping with a team that almost defies description at this point. Ferguson says he’s calmer now than he used to be, but his players – for good and ill – are putting his karma to the test.

“As a player, I was feisty, I was angry, but that was just me,” he said. “It was just passion. I kind of let it overstep the line at times, but that’s what happens when you’re young.

“I will lose the head from time to time, but I’ve got things that I can do to try and calm myself down. And I’ve got a good staff behind me as well, which is important.

“They’ll calm me down. As you’ve probably seen, they just give me a wee pat on the shoulder to say, ‘Right, here, calm it.'”

Having seen off Fenerbahce on penalties, there’s another howitzer up next.

As his team prepare for the biggest domestic challenge by far, Ferguson opened up on other things that have changed since he took over from Philippe Clement, a position he will hold until the end of the season.

Now that he’s on the inside, has he altered his view on any of the Rangers players he maybe once criticised and now coaches? “A number of them,” he replied. Cyriel Dessers is unquestionably one of them.

“Yeah, look, I’ve always said that the one thing you can’t label against big Cyriel was his work-ethic,” said Ferguson. “He’s a grafter. I just think his positional sense at times could be better.

“We’ve spoken about it. He understands that. There’s parts of his game that he knows he can improve and we know we can improve him. He’s very open. And a lot of the boys are like that ,Whether you’re 30, 31, or whether you’re 18 or 19, you never stop learning.”

As a pundit, Ferguson thought he could see what was wrong with Rangers – or at least, part of what was wrong. “I just felt watching the team, it was a bit pedestrian at times,” he said.

“That’s maybe a European style and I totally get that. I just think when you play at a club like Rangers, it needs to be real high tempo. When I watched them, I didn’t really know the game plan.”