Rangers conditions for long-term Barry Ferguson contract shared at Ibrox
Barry Ferguson has realised his dream of becoming the Rangers head coach after a 10-year wait and he may extend it by meeting certain conditions.
Rangers were left with no choice but to sack Philippe Clement after suffering a humiliating 2-0 Scottish Premiership defeat against St Mirren at Ibrox on Saturday, 22 February.
With a league trip to Kilmarnock coming up on Wednesday (26 February), the Glasgow giants quickly turned to Ferguson, appointing him as their head coach until the end of the season.
The ex-captain, who has brought Neil McCann, Billy Dodds and Allan McGregor along with him, will now look to steady the ship at Ibrox as takeover talks with 49ers Enterprises continue behind the scenes.
Peter Martin backs Ferguson at Rangers
Ferguson, who left Rangers as a player in 2009 before hanging up his boots six years later, has not had a managerial job since departing Alloa Athletic in 2022, meaning he will be aware of the task ahead of him.
Although he is only tasked with managing the club until the end of the season, Peter Martin reckons the Ibrox icon will be keen to extend the “dream” beyond the summer.
| Club | Role | Year | Matches | PPM |
| Rangers | Caretaker Manager | 2025- | – | – |
| Alloa Athletic | Manager | 2021-2022 | 33 | 1.03 |
| Kelty Hearts | Manager | 2018-2021 | 13* | 1.85 |
| Clyde FC | Manager | 2014-2017 | 117 | 1.36 |
| Blackpool | Caretaker Manager | 2014 | 20 | 0.70 |
The pundit is of the view that Ferguson could have a shot at landing the managerial job permanently if he causes upsets over Celtic in Rangers’ remaining games and springs a surprise in the UEFA Europa League.
Writing in a column on the PLZ Soccer website (25 February), Martin opined: “My gut feeling is he will manage to get some kind of spark out of them in the short term, but whether that ignites a desire from fans, current board and possibly a new board to hire him long-term remains to be seen.
“The biggest problem Barry will have in the short-term is a Celtic team cantering towards a title and possible treble.
“That is a sight that hurts Rangers fans and they do not want to see their side go down with a whimper in the remaining games against their great rivals.
“If Barry can lay down a marker in any of those games and maybe one special night in Europe, maybe, just maybe, the dream can continue beyond the summer.”
Ferguson to start v Kilmarnock
Ferguson’s first task as Rangers head coach will be to get them back to winning ways when they face Kilmarnock away from home on Wednesday.
The Gers were on a six-game unbeaten run in the Premiership prior to the defeat against St Mirren and the 47-year-old will be hopeful of stringing together a run of positive results in the next few weeks.