Jackie McNamara was left in disbelief when he discovered that Barry Ferguson had been appointed as the interim manager of Rangers this week.
Ferguson, along with former teammates Neil McCann, Billy Dodds, and Allan McGregor, has been tasked with steering the team through the remainder of the season following Philippe Clement’s exit.
His emotional return to Ibrox as the temporary boss has sparked attention, particularly since the 47-year-old hasn’t held a managerial position since his time with Alloa in 2022. The news left Celtic legend McNamara utterly shocked.
Speaking on Open Goal, McNamara quipped: “I thought it was April the 1st or something. I was surprised.”
The former Scotland international, who once shared the pitch with Ferguson, added: “It’s a strange one. From the outside, Barry was in an ambassador role. It’s like, ‘You just take it until the end of the season’.
“Doddsy has been a manager, Neil’s been a manager and Greegsy is in as the goalie coach. Maybe they don’t think it can get any worse from what they’ve seen in the last few weeks. You need a bit of passion, but you need a direction, a set-up where you know what Rangers are going to do.
“When you look at Rangers, it’s a team of individuals. There are one or two decent players, but what’s their structure? What are they trying to achieve? With Celtic, you know exactly what they are doing with Brendan’s structure. But with Rangers, it’s like, ‘What are we doing? Who is going to go and win the game for us today? Is Cerny going to be the man?’ It’s a big job.”
However, McNamara wasn’t surprised when Clement was dismissed after a turbulent 17-month spell at Ibrox.
He remarked: “If he hadn’t been in Europe, he would’ve gone earlier. When you get results like Queen’s Park at home, it’s hard to keep your job. To be honest, I think the writing was on the wall in the summer.
“From an outsider’s perspective, he signed a new contract. You had no sporting director, no support, the players they brought in… I think he signed that contract knowing he was under pressure before he started. So that for me was all about, ‘How am I going to handle this? Who is supporting me? Who is the sporting director? The head of recruitment left, the chief executive left’… it’s one thing after another.
“So I think the writing was actually on the wall in the summer and then he’s actually done quite well in Europe. But domestically, they’ve been poor. To go out of the cup and then get beat 2-0 at home to St Mirren, there’s no way back from that.”
