Former Rangers captain Barry Ferguson gave a very candid view of the incident for which himself and goalkeeper Allan McGregor will forever be remembered, and subsequently ended his international and Rangers career.
After being dropped to the bench following a late-night drinking session on the weekend before an international qualifier, Ferguson and McGregor flashed 'v-signs' at photographers from the bench.
The images quickly went viral, and Ferguson found himself at the centre of a storm which would result in the end of his captaincy at Rangers, as well as his career with Scotland. Ferguson moved to Birmingham to play under Alex McLeish a few months later, but speaking to BBC Scotland he explained that even a manager who knew him as well as McLeish was reluctant to take a chance on him following the incident.
Barry Ferguson reflects on the incident that ended his international career.#bbcsportscot pic.twitter.com/IoUtVcJXv6
— BBC Sport Scotland (@BBCSportScot) October 4, 2016
Listen, I took the consequences.
And d'yknow what? They were right. They way they done it wasn't right, through a fax, I would have rathered somebody rang me up and told me. I sort of knew it was happening anyway, but to get told through a fax? It's not great.
I'm not looking for any special treatment or anything but I could have just got a phone call saying "Listen, you're an absolute idiot, you're a disgrace, you should never play for your country again." Right, I'll take that.
Because I was. I was a disgrace. That was embarrassing what I done, because it ended my career.
It was a moment of pure idiocy from Barry Ferguson, but his honesty in addressing the situation is admirable.
Now the manager of Scottish League 2 side Clyde, it is clear that maturity has offered Ferguson a chance to reflect on his petulant actions and he deeply regrets what he did. While he continued to play for Birmingham and then Blackpool in England, he never played for Scotland again.
