Barry Ferguson wants Rangers to ‘do the dirty side of the game’ against Celtic

Barry Ferguson has stressed his Rangers players need to improve the “dirty side” of football ahead of Sunday’s derby clash with Celtic.

Ferguson was one of the few Rangers fans inside Celtic Park when his side lost 3-0 in September and is determined to ensure there is no repeat.

Rangers have since improved in the fixture, taking Celtic to penalties in the Premier Sports Cup final and winning 3-0 at Ibrox at the start of the year, but they go into the latest encounter 16 points behind in the William Hill Premiership.

“I was at the previous game and it was too easy for me,” interim head coach Ferguson said. “Celtic, that day, had it too easy.

“You can’t always play well. But if you don’t play well, you need to make it tough for your opponent.

“And that’s something that we have to do going forward. I’ve seen enough already in two-and-a-half weeks that they’re starting to take heed of what we’re saying.

“It’s not always about being a good football team or a nice football team. That’s not the case.

“Sometimes you need to roll your sleeves up and do the dirty side of the game. And that’s something that we need to improve on and that’s something that I’m working on, me and the staff.

“It’s something that the players totally understand how we need to, not just approach this game on Sunday, every single game we go into.”

Ferguson expects to have everyone available to play despite his side going for 120 minutes against Fenerbahce on Thursday before winning on penalties to reach the Europa League quarter-finals.

And he saluted the attitudes of both Vaclav Cerny and Danilo after the confusion surrounding his withdrawn substitution before the second period of extra-time.

The change was announced over the public address system and the Brazilian striker was serenaded by the home fans as he entered the pitch, but Cerny, Rangers’ most dangerous player all night, was back on by the time the game restarted.

Danilo took out his frustration by thumping the dugout and Ferguson was delighted with both players’ reactions.

On Cerny, he said: “I thought he’d cramped and he was gone. I got the message that that was the case. I’d seen him getting rubbed obviously just on the pitch. And I mentioned to him. And his attitude, ‘no, I’m not coming off’.

“He’s been a real dangerous player for me, Vac. He was good to go and it was the right decision because he scored one of the penalties.

“But listen, there was an incident that a player wasn’t happy. I would rather my players be like that.

“That’s a wee bit of anger. That’s what I have to see. Don’t be happy if you’re not playing. But that’s just the way football operates.

“You know what it’s like, it was chaos at that time. We’re going into the final 15 minutes of extra-time. But listen, he managed to get through that and obviously slotted a penalty home.”