Barry Ferguson

Barry Ferguson
MBE
Ferguson with Birmingham City, 2009 pre-season
Personal information
Full name Barry Ferguson[1]
Date of birth (1978-02-02) 2 February 1978 (age 46)[2]
Place of birth Hamilton, Scotland
Height 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)[3]
Position(s) Midfielder
Youth career
Rangers SABC[4]
1994–1997 Rangers
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1997–2003 Rangers 151 (24)
2003–2005 Blackburn Rovers 36 (3)
2005–2009 Rangers 137 (20)
2009–2011 Birmingham City 72 (0)
2011–2014 Blackpool 80 (1)
2012Fleetwood Town (loan) 6 (0)
2014–2015 Clyde 1 (0)
Total 484 (48)
International career
1997–1998 Scotland U21 12 (1)
1998–2009 Scotland 45 (3)
Managerial career
2014 Blackpool (caretaker)
2014–2017 Clyde
2018–2021 Kelty Hearts
2021–2022 Alloa Athletic
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Barry Ferguson MBE[5] (born 2 February 1978) is a Scottish football coach, former player and pundit who was most recently the manager of Alloa Athletic.

Ferguson spent most of his playing career at Rangers, in two spells either side of a £7.5 million transfer to English club Blackburn Rovers. He totalled 431 games and 60 goals for Rangers, whom he captained between 2000 and 2003 and again between 2005 and 2009.[6] Ferguson won the Scottish Premier League, Scottish Cup and Scottish League Cup five times apiece for Rangers, including a treble in 2003, which earned him the honour of SFWA Footballer of the Year. He also helped Rangers to reach the 2008 UEFA Cup final.

Ferguson made 45 appearances for the Scotland national team, starting from 1998. In 2009, following behavioural incidents while on national duty, he was stripped of the captaincy of Rangers and told he would no longer be considered for international selection.[7][8]

Later in his career, he returned to England with Birmingham City, Blackpool and Fleetwood Town. Towards the end of his playing spell with Blackpool, he served as caretaker manager of the club. Ferguson was appointed player-manager of Clyde in June 2014; he resigned from this position in February 2017. He became manager of Kelty Hearts in October 2018, and he left them in May 2021 after guiding them to promotion to the SPFL for the first time. Ferguson then became manager of Alloa Athletic soon after, but left the club on 14 February after a run of one win in eleven games.

  1. ^ "Professional retain list & free transfers 2012/13" (PDF). The Football League. 18 May 2013. p. 76. Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 October 2013. Retrieved 8 September 2013.
  2. ^ Hugman, Barry J. (2005). The PFA Premier & Football League Players' Records 1946–2005. Queen Anne Press. p. 205. ISBN 1-85291-665-6.
  3. ^ "Player Profile: Barry Ferguson". Birmingham City F.C. Archived from the original on 29 December 2010. Retrieved 16 March 2011.
  4. ^ "SABC continue to create stars for the future". Youth Football Scotland. 6 November 2013. Archived from the original on 19 September 2020. Retrieved 9 December 2017.
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference MBE2 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference gersBF was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ "Scots end Gers pair's cap career". BBC Sport. 3 April 2009. Retrieved 15 August 2009.
  8. ^ "Ferguson and McGregor No Longer Scotland Players". Scottish Football Association (The SFA). 3 April 2009. Retrieved 3 August 2009.