PLAYER PROFILE

Barry Ferguson

Position: Midfield

Height: 5'11

Weight: 11st 1lbs

Date of Birth: 1978-02-02 Glasgow

Barry Ferguson

Influential midfielder Barry Ferguson signed for Blackburn Rovers for £6.5million during the transfer window in August 2003. Graeme Souness had been desperate to get hold of the player, and it was a case of third time lucky, with Rovers having had two of their bids rejected by SPL giants Glasgow Rangers.

Barry arrived at Rangers at the age of 13 and joined the ground staff - cleaning boots while impressing in schoolboy and youth games. Rising through the ranks of one of Scotland’s biggest clubs, he went on to be one of the more successful products of their youth system.

He was voted man of the match on his debut appearance for the Scottish side – back on the last day of the 1996/97 season against Hearts. He scored his first league goal against Dunfermline in September 1998.

He grew into a high quality, skilful midfielder and was soon noticed by the Scottish FA, making his international debut for Scotland in a European Championship qualifier against Lithuania. He’s been a regular in the international set up ever since.

After several years and several trophies, Ferguson was handed the captain’s armband in October 2000.

The midfielder signed new long-term deals on many occasions with the club, the most recent being a contract extension, signed in March 2003, which was supposed to keep him in Glasgow until 2008. But his ambition and desire for new challenges became too much and after helping his team-mates win the Scottish treble, handed in a transfer request at the end of the 2002/03 campaign.

Souness beat off competition from Everton to land the midfield star, who is desperate to ply his trade south of the border in the English Premiership. After 231 appearances and 35 goals for the Gers, he joined his former Rangers team-mate and defender Lorenzo Amoruso at Ewood Park.

He didn't have an easy time of it either when he first came to England. Excited by the prospect of playing in the Premiership he played in virtually every game until the Christmas clash with Newcastle. Ferguson then broke his kneecap following an innocuous challenge from Gary Speed and did not feature again during the 2003/04 season.

In January 2005, Ferguson handed in a transfer request to try and force a move back to Rangers after Graeme Souness left for Newcastle. Finally, with only an hour left in the transfer window, the £4.5m deal was struck and he moved back to Glasgow.

His return to Ibrox proved to be a good move for Ferguson. His first game back, at least, was a great success as he helped his team to a 7-1 League Cup drubbing of Dundee United.

He continued from then on to be an important member of the team which so dramatically won the SPL, playing 15 games and even scoring twice. He was sent off against Motherwell in April.

He continued to captain the Scotland team which struggled in their qualifying group for the World Cup in 2006.

However, trouble lay ahead in the 2006/07 season when Paul Le Guen took over. In January 2007, Le Guen stripped Ferguson of the captaincy and dropped him for the next game.

However, shortly after, Le Guen resigned as manager and Walter Smith reinstated Ferguson as captain.

He has since gone on to reaffirm his reputation as one of the Gers' most important players.