ANYONE still doubting Barry Ferguson's contribution to Rangers should take a long hard look at themselves after the captain once again stepped up to the plate in the crucial 1-0 victory over Motherwell at Ibrox last night.
Just when it looked as if the home side were firing blanks, Barry kept his composure in a packed box to score the winner.
Time and again on the Radio Clyde phone-in we've had callers questioning his performance and looking for a scapegoat when things are not going well.
Bringing back Lenny no April Fool for Celts
IF Celtic win the league it will be down to a masterstroke by Gordon Strachan on April 3. On that day, he announced that Neil Lennon would be coming back to the club as part of the backroom team.
Lenny is a born winner and it comes as no surprise to me that most of the team have, at some stage or another, highlighted his effect on the dressing room since his return just over a month ago.
A Celtic side that looked dead and buried after the Old Firm defeat on March 29 slowly but surely succumbed to the Northern Irishman's infectious desire to fight.
A 1-0 defeat to Motherwell was hard to take at Celtic Park but, slowly and surely, the former Celtic captain, in tandem with the manager, started to work with individuals and the team to impart some of the gold-dust that helped him bag so many winner's medals over his own seven-year playing period.
Since his return, Celtic have lost one game and won the five others, with two coming against their great rivals.
Coincidence? I don't think so.
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This is a guy playing through the pain barrier with dodgy ankles, and his
comments after last night's game sum up his desire to drive his team to a title win, possibly even a Quadruple.
"I am going to continue playing regardless of injury."
That for me sums him up - he's a winner. Fergie has popped up with nine goals this season and when he's not on top form he's made sure his team-mates give their all for the cause.
The first half last night could have been oh so
different had Motherwell had a more decisive pass in the final third of the field.
Mark McGhee's team passed Rangers off the park in the first 45 minutes, but
Walter Smith's side had the better chances.
The longer the game went on, I had the feeling the
Rangers fans and players would become tense as the clock ticked away towards the 90th minute. Barry's goal
settled the nerves.
The gap is down to four points between second-placed Rangers and leaders Celtic, but the home games are not where the title credentials of the Ibrox side will be tested.
I expected Rangers to win last night. It's the away games against Motherwell, St Mirren and Aberdeen coming hard on the heels of the Uefa Cup Final where the problems lie.
If Rangers defeat Zenit in Manchester next Wednesday they will be flying into these
fixtures and onwards to the Quadruple.
The problem for Barry and company will be the fall-out from a Uefa Cup Final defeat and the depression that can engulf your mind and your play in the aftermath. Just ask the Celtic team of 2003.
I've tipped Rangers on more than one occasion to get dumped out of Europe and they have continually defied the odds. Can they do it one more time in Manchester?
No, they can't! Zenit will win by a couple in Manchester and the weaker players in the Rangers team will crumble under the disappointment.
That is where the Rangers captain comes in. If he can drag them up from the despair of Uefa Cup misery they have a chance to win the title. If he can't, there's more agony ahead with Stephen McManus lifting the SPL trophy.
My prediction? A Treble.
SPL had nowhere to turn
THE SPL's decision not to
extend the league or cancel this Saturday's Rangers v Dundee United match is hard on the Ibrox side, but the right one in my view.
Chairman Lex Gold had nowhere else to go with rescheduled fixtures and cited international duty, long delays between matches for other clubs, the Scottish Cup Final and the principles of fairness as the main reasons why they rejected Rangers' request.
If the Quadruple dies over the next seven days, Walter Smith now has the perfect excuse and a guilty party to blame for the death of their dream season.
He may state openly there are no excuses, but his timely dig at Celtic chief executive
Peter Lawwell and his reiteration of how unfair his club have been treated is enough to leave the Ibrox legions in no doubt there is a great injustice and a plot against them. Could this be paranoia?
If they lose the league to Celtic, get your tin helmets on for the phone-ins, everyone will get it. If Zenit St Petersburg, suitably refreshed from their break before the final, should win on May 14, too, all hell will let loose.
Carlos is write stuff this time
CONGRATULATIONS to Carlos Cuellar for winning the Scottish Football Writers' Player of the Year. He'll no doubt be there for this one and, for me, he deserves all the adulation for a superb season.
Quiet and unassuming, he goes about his business
effectively and without blowing his own trumpet, which is more than can be said for certain journalists attending Sunday's event in Glasgow.
Poor old PFA chief Fraser Wishart has been getting it in the neck on Clyde from writers about which award is the most prestigious and accurate - players' or writers'.
Both have their merits. Players say being nominated by your fellow professionals is the greatest honour, while the writers claim theirs is perfectly timed at the business end of the season to reflect who truly deserves an award.
My vote goes to the writers. Why? Well, I'm not working at it, there's free drink, the company is great and, more importantly, never bite the hand that feeds you!
