Like all bears Barry Ferguson was looking forward to an epic weekend.
After seven wins on the bounce what could possibly go wrong for Derek McInnes as he took his side to Dens Park knowing that a win would take them into top place in the SPFL Premiership.
Adding to the build up Celtic took a hammering on Thursday night. Setting the mood nicely. After picking up three easy points at Dundee on Saturday it is back down the road to watch Celtic crumble against Hearts. Five defeats out of six and it’ll be taxi for O’Neill.
The gloating was about to be unleashed, surely.
Dundee away. At 8pm on a Saturday night. In mid October. Very probably in the pouring rain.
I’ve got to be honest, there have been many times over these last few years when the very idea of it would have made me feel a bit edgy as a Rangers fan. And, yes, even during my own short time as the Rangers manager.
It pains me to admit it, but I used to worry about games exactly like this because, somewhere deep down, I was never completely convinced that we could battle our way back out of a place like Dens Park, hanging on to all three points as if our lives depended upon it.
Getting to the punchline he added:
I’m starting to see signs of a very different Rangers side this season. And, while I never like to be complacent or overly confident, let’s just say I’m feeling much more relaxed and calm about their prospects travelling up to Tayside on Saturday night.
Great to hear it Barry, seems like your players were a bit too relaxed and calm. Ruining your Saturday night and well into Sunday.
I think, for the first time in a long time, this Rangers team is physically and mentally ready to go to places like that now.
You’ve always got that nagging doubt in the back of your mind and you certainly have to respect Dundee because Big Elvis has got them flying and playing some really good stuff already this season in spite of a number of injuries.
But I’m just not as worried about it as I might have been before because, if it turns into a bit of a battle, I know that this set of players will be able to handle it.
That’s what I wanted to put in place more than anything when I was in charge. And Derek McInnes – who was also part of that squad under Advocaat – has clearly worked very hard along the exact same lines.
Perhaps previous Rangers managers never quite understood the importance of it. Maybe they couldn’t quite get their heads around what it takes to be successful in Scottish football.
Yes we know, Del is staunch, he gets it, he knows the words of the songs and sings them loud and proud.
But can he manage? Can he cope? Sometimes being staunch isn’t enough. Ally McCoist failed spectacularly in management.
BARRY FERGUSON- IT IS THE HOPE THAT KILLS THEM
In almost 20 years in management McInnes has won one trophy, the League Cup.
John Collins, Jim McIntyre, Stephen Robinson and Danny Lennon have also won the League Cup.
In the 2014 League Cup win McInnes’s Aberdeen beat Inverness Caley Thistle on penalties. Two seasons later John Hughes won the Scottish Cup.
That’s before you get to Callum Davidson. He has won two trophies, one more than McInnes, one more than Steven Gerrard.
These Rangers games used to worry me but this lot are different and someone is going to suffer this weekend | Barry Ferguson
https://t.co/MD7ojwZBO5 https://t.co/lOOvRTU4ue
— Daily Record Sport (@Record_Sport) October 16, 2026
Back in la-la land in the Record Ferguson added:
But successful Rangers players have to be prepared to fight and scrap for every piece of silverware that they lift.
That’s the sense of togetherness I’m seeing in Del’s dressing room right now. That’s what has helped them turn things around in such a short space of time after a massively disappointing start to the season.
It’s why I’m confident they’ll find a way to chalk up an eight straight win on Saturday night. If it becomes all a bit up in the air and back to front, with individual battles all over the pitch, I genuinely don’t believe they’ll allow themselves to be pushed around or bullied.
After 15 years of mediocrity and disappointment Ferguson and his ilk still haven’t learned.
We’ve heard the same spin for Phil Clement and Danny Rohl. Even Micky Beale got the Messiah treatment. And won nothing.
Once upon a time a wise man suggested ‘it’s the hope that kills them’.
And Ferguson delivers that hope in buckets. Hope meets delusion as they end up two steps back after one faltering pace forward.
Last season, if you remember, there were very few occasions when Rangers, Hearts and Celtic all won on the same weekend. That happened in the previous round of fixtures but it most certainly can’t happen again over these next couple of days, with Hearts going to Parkhead on Sunday afternoon.
Mystic Barry strikes again. He noticed that Celtic and Hearts both couldn’t win.
There was only one winner this weekend, it was the team that Ferguson hates most of all.
That means somebody is going to suffer this weekend. And it simply can’t be Rangers – that’s the mentality they’ve got to have. That’s the attitude which might just make this season one the Rangers supporters will never forget.
Oh dear, oh dear. Why do you do that to yourself Barry?
WATCH OUT DEREK- THE PRESSURE IS PILING UP
Now the pressure is starting to pile on McInnes. And we know how he reacted to that last season, not very well. Not well at all.
This weekend St Johnstone visit Ibrox, Celtic travel to face Hibs.
Then it gets interesting. McInnes returns to Tynecastle at the same time as Celtic host Dundee United.
Hopefully Ferguson will be shooting off in the Record about what his side is about to do.
If the gap grows above four points the pressure on McInnes will become unbearable.
And when that happens there is an in-house interim manager just waiting to get the trackie out and return to the dug out.
Don’t bet against Ferguson returning to management. Those Banter Years just never stop.
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