By Barry Ferguson

Copyright dailyrecord

I’ve got a few things to say about Nico Raskin and Russell Martin. First and foremost, I’m pleased that whatever went on between them has been resolved. I was at Ibrox on Saturday to see Nico return to the team and turn in an outstanding performance against Hibs as Russell got a much needed win to reach the quarter finals of the Premier Sports Cup. And I was genuinely delighted for both of them. But now the proof will be in the pudding where Nico is concerned. And what I mean by that is he has to do the same all over again on Thursday night against Genk and at Livingston on Sunday. That’s the Nico I know. I have said consistently that, when he’s in a good place and operating in the right areas of the pitch, he looks like a proper Rangers midfielder. And that’s one of the biggest compliments I can pay him. Can he be a feisty wee bugger? Yes, he can. But I have no problem with that. I certainly never found him to be a negative influence inside our dressing room last season. In fact, as a person, I really like him. Yes, he could be challenging and he’d almost have an opinion on what we wanted from him. But I was perfectly OK with that. It showed me that he was interested in the reasons why we were asking him to make specific changes to his game. I had no problem with sitting him down and telling him what I was thinking and why. I’d tell him, ‘If you do what I’m asking then hopefully you’ll see an improvement,’. And he did. I did think, over the last couple of months of the season, he was the best player in the country. He still has a bit of work to do and more improvements to make and he will know that himself. But if he continues to want to learn then Rangers have got a brilliant asset on their hands and that’s why I’m so happy that the situation with the manager appears to have been resolved. I had plenty of arguments and fall outs with team mates and managers during my own time as a player and captain. And sometimes it was because there were things simply that had to be said, man to man. But once you got it all out in the open and talked things out, it was over. The door was slammed shut and you moved on. What people have to remember is that this is an emotional game and that, in certain moments, feelings run high. Sometimes you can say things in the heat of the moment that you might regret later on. And, every now and then, even the most experienced operators can say things that make them look a little bit silly. But you can’t afford to hold grudges. For example, when Brendan Rodgers was critical of me and my staff the other day I must admit I was surprised to hear what was said. He was asked if he had sympathy for Russell Martin and, in his answer, somehow ended up talking about comments made by the guys who were in his shoes previously. I couldn’t see any reason for it. It just felt a bit odd coming from a man of his experience. It felt very much like a deflection tactic. If I had been asked the same sort of question I would simply have shut it down on the basis that it’s not my job to comment or concentrate on what’s happening at another club. Celtic have obviously got their own internal issues at the moment and that’s not my concern. But the one thing I would stress is that it hasn’t diminished my respect for him as an excellent, successful manager. But I do feel I also have to make it clear that what he said was wrong. Neither myself, Neil McCann nor Billy Dodds have said anything disrespectful about Russell Martin or what’s been going on at Rangers this season. I have listened to every word of it and it’s been constructive at all times. None of it has been even remotely personal. People have the criticism was aimed at my backroom staff but, for me, it was aimed at all of us. They were my staff, I was in charge, so it was aimed at me as well. Our tactics obviously weren’t perfect because we lost a few games and we know we could and should have done better in some of them. But we did get our tactics spot on when we won at Celtic Park and they couldn’t beat us at Ibrox in the second Old Firm derby, so we also had a good idea of what we were trying to do. Like I’ve said, it’s an emotional game and sometimes people say things they later regret. I’m not angry but we are guys who have played, coached and understand the game so I found the tone of what was said just very unnecessary. But then football in Glasgow is no place to hold onto hard feelings. And that’s why I’m so glad to see Russell and Nico have been big enough to shake hands and to get back to the business of winning games of football.