Derek Ferguson has outlined the kind of midfielders he thinks Glasgow Rangers need, but his comments will probably not go down too well with the Ibrox faithful.
Derek Ferguson has suggested that Rangers need a warrior in the middle of the park, the Evening Times reports. And while his suggestion that that midfielder should play like Stuart McCall will not come as that great a surprise, the other player he speaks about may not go down as well with the Ibrox faithful.
The Gers have arguably been missing a talisman in midfield all season. Mark Warburton may have been hoping that Joey Barton would be that man, but with the 34-year-old no longer at the club, the next manager surely needs to make finding that leader one of his priorities when he arrives.
And Ferguson has outlined the kind of player that the next man should be looking to target. Along with McCall, he suggested that a former Celtic captain may provide the blueprint for what they are looking for.
“If you’ve a back four that’s struggling, you bring in a certain type,” he said, as reported by the Evening Times.
“All the guys are nice neat and tidy players but you need something else, a Stuart McCall type, a Neil Lennon, some protection. And not just one – you need a couple.
Stuart McCall
“At home you’re going to get a lot of the ball but when you go away teams will confront you and they’ve not got the players who can stand up to that. There’s a soft centre about them.
Though Rangers fans will hate to admit it, Lennon was a key part of the Hoops side that largely dominated the Scottish Premiership in the years following the Millennium, winning five league titles in seven years.
Though he only became captain in 2005, he was arguably a leader of that team long before and helped inspire them to plenty of success.
Neil Lennon
The current Rangers side arguably desperately need someone in the middle who can inspire the rest of the team with just one moment of brilliance, whether that be a full-blooded challenge or a scarcely-believable pass.
And uncovering that kind of player could arguably be almost as important to the Gers’ chances of moving up the table in the coming years as getting the right replacement for Warburton in.
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