BARRY Ferguson thanked the Rangers supporters for helping the Ibrox club to record their first win at Parkhead in nearly five years today and expressed satisfaction that his players have repaired the broken relationship with their fans with their recent performances.
A stunning Hamza Igamane goal late on clinched a 3-2 victory for the Govan side in the William Hill Premiership match against the Scottish champions elect in the East End of Glasgow.
Ferguson, whose team had beaten Fenerbahce at home in a penalty shootout on Thursday night to reach the Europa League quarter-finals, felt his players, who went 2-0 ahead in the first half thanks to Nicolas Raskin and Mohammed Diomande goals, deserved to prevail.
However, the Rangers caretaker manager, who again brushed aside questions about his own future after his contract expires in May, stressed the 2,500 away supporters, who were allowed inside Parkhead for the first time since 2023, had played a big part in the result.
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The Hall of Fame member believes that James Tavernier and his team mates have got their own followers, who targeted them with sickening abuse following the 3-0 defeat they suffered at Parkhead back at the start of September, back onside.
“I'm just praising the players,” he said. “It's nothing to do with me. It's all about the guys in there. It's been a difficult season for them.
“It's a lot of change for them as well. A new manager coming in - a new coaching staff and a totally different way of approaching training and games. I've got to give them credit. I'm delighted they took it on board. They're a really good group of boys.
“What I'm starting to see is a real togetherness and that's what you need. Not just the playing staff. I'm talking about the staff at the training centre now. We need to try and get that connection back.
“I'm starting to get it with the fans. That was one of my driving forces when I came in. I just felt that was missing. Slowly but surely, we're starting to see that get back together.”
“I say to the players that every time you win a game you should make sure you celebrate it. That's what it's all about, that's why you play football. But they'll wake up tomorrow and that's in the past. We need to look forward to the next game in a couple of weeks.
“But it's certainly a good feeling, coming to your fiercest rivals and deserving to win the game. So I just said to the players, listen, go and enjoy the next couple of days because it's been a long time, five years.”
Rangers allowed Celtic to level in the second half – but Ferguson insisted that he was confident his charges could come back because he has been impressed with the character they have shown since replacing Philippe Clement on a temporary basis last month.
“You always know Celtic are going to come at you because the crowd is getting frustrated,” he said. “I thought Brendan would make a change or two and he certainly did that. It made a difference to the Celtic team. They obviously get back into the game at 2-2.
“But then I take a step back. I've been trying to drum into the boys that you need to be more at Rangers than a good player. This is one of the things I stressed to them when I came in. It takes a certain type to be a very good Rangers player. My group of players are certainly starting to show that.
“I've seen it. I've seen it in the last couple of games. I've seen it on Thursday night. We suffered a defeat. It's easy to feel sorry for yourself. I'm not accepting people feeling sorry for themselves. It was a big challenge for them.
“I asked them yesterday to come here and put a performance on. They certainly did that. I've got to give them huge credit. I've said it over the last couple of games. They're starting to build a wee bit of momentum. That's important. I thought overall, we were worthy of the three points.”
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Rangers winger Vaclav Cerny angered Celtic supporters after the Igamane winner when he sprayed them with a water bottle as he ran down the touchline to celebrate with his team mates.
Stewards had to move in around the away dugout after the home fans reacted furiously to the Czech Republic internationalist's actions.
Asked if he had seen the incident, Ferguson said, “No, I was concentrating on making sure that I come up with formation to see the game out. I'm just glad I wasn't involved. I've got the time and focus on my team, and that's what I was doing.
“You look at the clock. I don't know how many minutes were left. Was there seven or eight minutes? I need to make sure that we're drilled into the information just to see the game out and obviously come away with three points.”
“I'm thinking, ‘Just make sure you go on a good run in this group of players, keep trying to improve every single day you're in training’. Then come the end of May, I'll be away on a family holiday.
“Honestly, if you know me and anybody who's close to me, I don't think further ahead in my contract. I've got a job to do, myself the coaching staff and everybody who's still in at the club. We're going in the right direction, but there's still a lot of things that we can improve on. That's something that we're desperate to do.”
