ian1964 10,457 Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 BARRY FERGUSON today signed for Birmingham City in a deal worth �£1million. The 31-year-old midfielder has quit Rangers for the second time in his career and returns to the Premiership some five years after a short stint at Blackburn between 2003 and 2004. Ferguson completed his medical last night in the Midlands. And his agent, John Viola, sealed the deal on personal terms after talks with Blues MD Karren Brady at lunchtime today. advertisement Ferguson has signed a two-year contract with the option for a further year. He will be reunited with Alex McLeish at Birmingham, along with former Scotland team-mates James McFadden and Garry O'Connor. There had been the option of moving to West Brom and there was further Premiership interest when it became clear that Ferguson was being allowed to move on by the Ibrox club. But he was sold on the move with the chance to work with McLeish again, and will make his competitve debut against Manchester United at Old Trafford on August 16. Ferguson had one year left on a lucrative �£25,000-a-week deal at Rangers. But all parties concerned felt it was better for him to move on after the infamous Scotland boozegate fiasco which saw him banished by his country and stripped of the Rangers captaincy last April. And former team-mate Nacho Novo, a close friend of the midfielder, was sorry to see Ferguson go and believes that Rangers are losing a "legend." "He is one of the best players I have ever played with," said the Spaniard. "He is a great person, a hard worker and he helped everybody at the club. We will miss him." And Novo has set his sights on making serious inroads into Walter Smith's first team this term after a stop-start campaign last time out. "I have one more year on my contract," he said. "I love Rangers. The club are in my heart and this year I want to work hard to be in the team." http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/display.var.2520597.0.0.php 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rangers Football Club 0 Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 McLEISH delighted to secure former skipper for Premier challenge More... 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whosthedado 1,522 Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 Good luck to him. I think the time was right from both sides of the coin to move on. A big wage of the wage bill too I would imagine. Hope he does well at Birmingham 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Jum Spence Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 Birmingham sign former Scotland captain Barry Ferguson from Rangers on a three-year contract. More... 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ian1964 10,457 Posted July 17, 2009 Author Share Posted July 17, 2009 Maybe we should have another poll, is Barry Ferguson a Rangers Legend ? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barry_Ferguson 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zappa 0 Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 Maybe we should have another poll, is Barry Ferguson a Rangers Legend ? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barry_Ferguson Hasn't played like a legend for quite some time now, but he definitely is one. Good luck to him at Brum if it really is a done deal. I'm sure he'll do well if he can stay free of injury & if he came onto good form he could help Brum stay up with ease. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
craig 5,199 Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 From our perspective we get rid of a player who is in the twilight of his career and we manage to bag 1 mill for him. Decent enough business especially as he only had one year left on his contract. We also save 1.3 mill in wages if the 25k a week as reported is true. So we save get cash of 1 mill and cost savings of 1.3 mill. Decent business especially as BF would struggle to get in to the team in front of Mendes, Thomson and Edu. I still think we need more creativity in the midfield than we have - but hopefully Thomson makes the start of the season because last year he and Mendes together seemed to have a great understanding. IMO our performances from the middle of the park tailed off badly when Thomson was out injured (until Edu got his run in the team). That isnt a dig at BF, just that from what I watched we seemed to be more fluent and fluid with Thomson and Mendes and Edu and Mendes than we did with Ferguson and Mendes. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norris Cole 0 Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 Best for both parties, all the best to him. He wasn't a legend, but from 1998 to 2003 he was a pretty special player for the Rangers. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pete 2,499 Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 From our perspective we get rid of a player who is in the twilight of his career and we manage to bag 1 mill for him. Decent enough business especially as he only had one year left on his contract. We also save 1.3 mill in wages if the 25k a week as reported is true. So we save get cash of 1 mill and cost savings of 1.3 mill. Decent business especially as BF would struggle to get in to the team in front of Mendes, Thomson and Edu. I still think we need more creativity in the midfield than we have - but hopefully Thomson makes the start of the season because last year he and Mendes together seemed to have a great understanding. IMO our performances from the middle of the park tailed off badly when Thomson was out injured (until Edu got his run in the team). That isnt a dig at BF, just that from what I watched we seemed to be more fluent and fluid with Thomson and Mendes and Edu and Mendes than we did with Ferguson and Mendes. I was never a big Fergie fan,in my opinion he had one exceptional year with R vd Boer, when he scored a barrow load from midfield. I have certainly never thought of him as the world class player many seemed to think he is\was. I feel he was too dominant to be a good team player. the fact we won few titles under his captaincy may not be conclusive evidence but may be allowed as circumstantial evidence. Most defeats last season were also under the leadership of Fergie Fergie. I for one am happy to see him go but as an ex bear i wish him all the best and hope he is a hit at Brummie. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest BillyMac Posted July 18, 2009 Share Posted July 18, 2009 i would like to wish him all the best at birmingham as for him being a legend not in my book 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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