BARRY FERGUSON - THE TRUTH

NOT for the first, and probably not the last time, I am reminded of that graveyard for English comedians, the Glasgow Empire.

Once upon a time, Mike and Bernie Winters were playing it, and opened with the wee one alone on stage telling what he tried to pass off as jokes. There was silence in the hall.

Then, enter stage left, his goofy toothed and even less funny brother. At last the silence was broken as a good old fashioned Glasgow voice boomed from the gods...awe naw! There's two of them.

What brought the hoary old, though true, tale of the music halls to my mind, was an interview conducted by one of the best and most accomplished sportswriters on any of the so-called heavies, Alan Patullo of the Scotsman.

Sir Bruce, as he is known with great affection among the hack pack, was following up the interview Barry Ferguson gave on BBC Radio Scotland which was interpreted by many as an indication he wished to return to play for Scotland.

Two of the folk Patullo interviewed were Tam Ferry and Hamish Husband, described as Tartan Army spokesmen. My reaction was predictable.

AWE NAW! THERE'S TWO OF THEM.

It would appear one favoured Ferguson's return from international exile, while the other did not. Who was for, and who against, is unimportant.

However it did raise one question about the Tartan Army. Is it now split? And if so, which is the official wing and which the provisional?

That's a joke guys. Honest!

There are though more important questions to be asked about the whole sorry affair and the vilification which has come Ferguson's way since his announcement that, no, he did not wish to play for Scotland agan.

For a start, and despite clear and unabiguous comments to the contrary, there are those who seem to believe the final decision rested not with Ferguson, but with his manager at Birmingham City, Alex McLeish. This suggestion is absolute bunkum and balderdash and may even constitute a defamation of big Eck.

Something  I am sure he and his m'learned friends are keeping a close eye on.

I missed the radio interview, but on reading its content felt that any story claiming what Ferguson said laid the groundwork for an international return, was grossly overstating the case.

One senior colleague said he initially agreed, but went on to say that when he took the time to actually listen to the broadcast, his feeling was the player wanted to don the dark blue  again, and that I may review my view by listening to it.

Always willing to take advice from such a respected source, I got a pal to work the internet for me and tuned in. Ah, the wonders of this modern age.

However, my view remained unaltered, especially as I had spoken to someone who had talked to Ferguson and found the player saying he was bemused by all the fuss.

At this point arms and legs grew onto the story. Some said he would return, and others weren't so sure. I remained commited to a view formed in the summer, when a mutual friend visited Ferguson and told me he was veering to concentrating on his club.

It was a story which I wrote for one national Sunday newspaper in July, and which appeared around ten days before Ferguson's decision was announced.

Where BBC Television's Reporting Scotland got their statement that Ferguson had kept Scotland waiting for a decision since February, goodness only knows. An early Christmas cracker perhaps?

Frankly, I can well understand why Ferguson did not want to put himself in the firing line again, for even when he was at his best for Scotland - and that was pretty good -  there were many in the Tartan Army who held him in low regard.

I even saw one newspaper this week refer to him as 'the crab' after his style. Actually I have never heard him called that, though I remember sitting in the manager's office at Old Trafford with Ron Atkinson, who told me that's what some fans called Ray Wilkins. And it wasn't meant as a compliment.

Ray Wilkins, for goodness sake. Even my noted tolerance is stretched by that sort of rubbish. Anyone who could not appreciate the way Wilkins and Ferguson's style was based on the first rule of the game, keeping possession, should never be allowed into watch football again.

Ferguson also very often put his future fitness on the line for Scotland. I recall sitting in a hotel in Iceland eight years ago as he spoke to Sunday newspaper reporters about his pelvic problems.

It was the day before a vital quailifer and he revealed how he had taken as many painful, but eventually pain killing injections, as was allowed. His graphic description of what this entailed - and where - brought a tear to a glass eye.

Therefore, in order to continue to rally to his country's colours, he was stuffing pain killers down his throat to such an extent that he had almost permanent stomach problems. That was what he was willing to go through to play for Scotland.

Yet, wherever I wherever I travelled  to report on Rangers- with the noteable exception of Inverness - and despite the fact he was Scotland's captain, Ferguson was singled out for a particularly virulent form of abuse.

My memory stretches back to away games involving Celtic and Rangers at a time when Billy McNeill, Danny McGrain, Roy Aitken, Paul Lambert, Eric Caldow and John Greig were among the revered names who were captain of club and country, and I have no memory of them being on the receiving end of such taunts and hatred.

The comments attached to the many newspaper online versions of the story about Fergsuon's decision also reveal a hostility towards him by many members of the Tartan Army. It's a mystery to me.

Of course they will point to the Boozegate scandal and the player's antics at Hampden a few days later. What he did at Hampden was stupid, childish and indefensible.

As for the events at Cameron House on the return from a whipping in Holland. Well, the exact truth of the circumstances surrounding them has never been fully explained. So let me set the record straight on why the then manager George Burley should shoulder some of the blame.

When the squad arrived back in Glasgow, it was actually officially disbanded at the airport. Those who wished to go their own way were free to do so. The schedule was for the squad to re-assemble again at Cameron house at tea time on the Sunday evening.

The mistake Burley made was in adding that anyone who wanted to go straight to Cameron House could do so, and that food and drink would be provided. The mistake Fergie made was in chosing that option.

Had he headed home, or into town to any of the places where he would have been made welcome and been able to relax away from prying eyes, nobody would have been any the wiser.

 Who knows what those members of the disbanded squad may or may not have got up to when they headed in whatever direction they chose.

The fact remains though, that Ferguson broke no rules and defied no curfew. That was never properly explained at the time. Instead, the media feeding frenzy broke, with Ferguson torn apart.

What is also not known is Walter Smith's reaction to the original outcry. My information is that he was far from happy with the then Rangers captain being thrown to the wolves, but, with Scotland involved in another match, sagely kept his counsel.

Whatever he may or may not have planned to say to Ferguson, and publicly comment, when his captain returned to Murray Park on the Friday, became irrelevant due to what the player did at Hampden on the Wednesday. The ground had been cut from under Smith's feet and he was rightly furious.

The Ibrox captaincy was stripped from Ferguson and he was told he would never again play for Rangers. Smith later softened and Ferguson returned as Rangers won the title, but at the end of the season he left for Birmingham.

It is a measure of his dedication to his country and his professionalism, that Ferguson  played for the national team under Craig Brown, Berti Vogts, Walter Smith and Alex McLeish without any hint of scandal or problem.

It is a measure of the Tartan Army's appreciation of football, that so many of them never wanted him in the Scotland team, even when when he was at the peak of his game, and captaining club and country.

And when it comes to those two Tartan Army spokesmen. Well, let's just say that if the Glasgow Empire was still on the go they'd get a lot more laughs than Mike and Bernie Winters did.