SCOTLAND and Rangers captain Barry Ferguson will be out of action for between three and four months because of an ankle injury.
Ferguson has been hampered by ankle problems for much of the past three years and the situation flared during Rangers' hectic finale to last season. He visited a specialist in March and was given treatment that allowed him to play through the pain
barrier and help Rangers' bid for a quadruple. Ferguson was also told that he needed rest rather than an operation during the summer.
But the club revealed that a problem was discovered in the early part of this week and confirmed the 30-year-old will remain in Glasgow for treatment while his team-mates travel to the Netherlands tomorrow to continue pre-season training.
"It's a massive blow," said Ibrox assistant manager Ally McCoist. "We know it's vital that we make a good start to the season, and losing Barry is a problem."
As well as missing his club's Champions League qualifying ties and the start of the SPL campaign, Ferguson will sit out Scotland's World Cup double header against Macedonia and Iceland in September and is a doubt for the visit of Norway on 11 October.
National manager George Burley said: "Barry has been a very important player for Scotland for a number of years and to lose our captain at the start of the campaign is a huge blow to everybody. We'll be keeping in touch with Rangers and Barry and our hope is that he gets back playing as soon as possible."
The full article contains 268 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
