Life Without Barry

[Frankie 8,150]

An interesting look from pete at our recent months without our former skipper....

 

A few years ago I was working in a factory where everyone was of the opinion that if the head of the maintenance department ever quit his job, the whole factory would be in trouble. It could even go bankrupt was the general consensus. He was the only one who could repair everything and anything.

 

At that time the management knew someone was stealing and laid a trap to catch the culprit. To everyone�s shock it turned out to be the irreplaceable head of maintenance. After years and years of service he was fired on the spot. Did the factory shut down? No! What did happen was that his assistant took control, brought in some new ideas and actually improved things.

 

Why am I telling this story?

 

In my opinion, we as Rangers supporters have just witnessed a similar scenario in Barry Ferguson leaving the club. In no way am I accusing Barry of stealing, although some supporters will say he was certainly not earning his huge wages. The common denominator in the two scenarios being that many fans believed up to the end of last season that Barry Ferguson was irreplaceable, and that Rangers could not win the league without him.

 

The doomsday scenario of Barry getting injured and then demoted for the famous boozegate incident meant Rangers were without our irreplaceable ex-captain. Nevertheless, as in the story above, the Rangers team did not crumble and fall but his understudy, Maurice Edu took over in the engine room, and actually improved the Rangers midfield. Rangers went on an unbeaten run to claim the SPL title for the 52nd time.

 

With Barry heading down the M6 to Birmingham in the summer, life without Barry at Ibrox was to begin for real. Injuries to Maurice Edu, Kevin Thomson and Pedro Mendes were to further complicate matters. A replacement was to be found in the unexpected person of Lee McCulloch. Big Lee has stepped in and performed competently, scoring a few from midfield. He has probably been the surprise packet of the season so far.

 

While Lee has performed above expectations, the player we were expecting the most from, Pedro Mendes, has so far failed to produce any sort of form to get the bears exited about. While he was unlucky to be red carded against Kilmarnock his performances have been way down from the form that won him a few player of the match awards last season. With Pedro and Lee both commanding a midfield position, we certainly lack a bit of pace and flexibility.

 

Kevin Thomson has also recently returned to the team and once he has built up the needed match fitness he will probably be the first name on the team sheet, with McCulloch finding himself out in the cold.

 

Walter Smith has been playing Stevie Davis on the right hand side of the midfield but most people agree he looks to be far more effective when he plays through the middle. The fact is we have just too many players trying to claim the central midfield positions. When Maurice Edu returns in a few weeks Walter will be given a further headache of trying to keep all the midfielders happy and playing.

 

Indeed, if Edu hits the form he did at the end of last term then it could be Pedro Mendes who drops to the bench leaving a midfield of Davis, Edu, Thomson and Rothen. Walter could of course play Mendes as well, and go for a five man midfield, which he will no doubt do in European games, but this strategy has not been too successful in SPL games in the past. Certainly, if everyone hits form then it certainly looks like Walter will have a chest of riches to choose from.

 

As it stands though, with Barry playing well down in Birmingham, and with Rangers losing to Seville plus drawing their last three successive league games, the Barry believers will be starting to raise their heads again in a ââ?¬Å?we told you soââ?¬Â sort of way. The fact is that Rangers dropped more points last season with Barry in the team than we did when he was not in the team. Barry has now gone, it is now time to move on with the players we have.

 

Pound for pound Rangers arguably still have the strongest team in the SPL. It is now time for the players to start believing that. Walter Smith has to get the team playing to their true ability and not under-achieving. Starting against Celtic on Sunday, we have to start producing performances befitting of Scottish champions. Barry Ferguson will back us on that.

 

:spl:

[Norris Cole 0]

While we miss his experience in European games, I don't think Ferguson has been irreplaceable since 2003 to be honest.

 

Pedro Mendes needs dropped IMHO, and it'll be even harder to justify his continued inclusion when Edu returns.

[craig 5,195]

Yep, WS needs to drop Mendes to give him the kick up the arse he needs. Aside from a handful of games he has been very disappointing since he signed. Certainly not a 3 million pound player !

[Whosthedado 1,499]

I know we need to move on from the BF era, but the way Mendes has been playing lately I would rather have had Barry Ferguson in there:box: Says more about the way Mendes has been than anything good about Fergie to be honest. Maybe Mendes will pop up with one of his 3 goal wonder strikes in 6 months on Sunday:whistle:

[maineflyer 0]

Take away his goal against sellick and I'd be struggling to remember anything about Pedro Mendes.

 

He's contributed about as much as Beasley, who hasn't had the benefit of actually getting a game, and his performances probably go a long way to explaining why we were able to get him in the first place. Exactly how much is he pocketing on false pretences?

[johnnyk 158]

Half the team seem to have picked up his 'flicking' of the ball with the outside of their foot. It's not as if he's that good at it but the rest are just hopeless, it just gives away possession very cheaply and we can't afford to do that!!!

 

He rarely holds on to the ball and it's usually a first time pass back to the defender or a flick on to someone..........

 

I would much rather have Barry there than Mendes........

[UCF2008 0]

I don't think we're missing Barry too much atm. There have been times so far this season where I think we've possibly missed some of his attributes as captain. Although Davie Weir has bags of experience and is respected by his team mates, I think he's too much of a nice guy to give them a kick up the arse when they need it.

 

That said, I think it's more a case of absence making the heart fonder with Ferguson. At the end of the day he will and probably should be remembered as a Rangers legend, but the negatives had been outweighing the positives for some time and having been on a final warning - which he was lucky to get away with following the PLG saga - he blew it big time and his time at the club was rightly brought to an end.

 

I think the wrong thing for us to do as supporters is to be looking for one player to 'replace' Ferguson. As much as I agree that he's done well so far this season, big Lee isn't going to tick all the boxes on that front. I don't think any of our midfielders will be able to match the rose tinted vision of our former captain. Instead we should be looking for the team to perform well as a unit. Like Pete says, when they're on form we have a very strong midfield and when Edu returns from injury, the competition for places in the middle of the park is going to be as strong as it's been in a long time.

[Gribz 743]

No way are we missing Barry Ferguson. It would be even more obvious if WS could have a bit more guts and start playing to our strengths with Thomson the holding midfielder and Davis inside right. That would give Mendes a bit more freedom rather than making his game a more defensive one which is effecting him IMO.

[Super_Ally 0]

Only just read this today pete. Was busy when it was originally posted so wasn't in the mood for reading longer more involved posts.

 

Decent bit of writing, good analogy and I guess you were proven right with last years title win.

 

There are still games I think we'd benefit from his presence as he knows how to keep the ball. But we just won another Old Firm without him and are doing ok overall.