Barry Ferguson’s Celtic Double Standard Exposed in Staunch McInnes Defence

Barry Ferguson wants everyone to calm down about Derek McInnes.

Three competitive games into this season, Ferguson insists criticism of the new Ibrox manager is already becoming “ridiculous”.

Apparently, McInnes deserves time.

That would be perfectly reasonable — if Ferguson applied anything resembling the same standard when Celtic managers struggled.

Barry Ferguson criticised Nancy after three games

The problem is we do not even need to search very far back.

Wilfried Nancy had been Celtic manager for precisely three matches when Ferguson was already picking apart his judgement.

After Nancy’s third defeat, Ferguson attacked the Frenchman’s short handover meeting with Martin O’Neill.

“I think it’s madness,” Ferguson said.

He explained that he would have spent “10 or 15 hours” picking O’Neill’s brains rather than 10 or 15 minutes.

And here is the important point: Nancy undoubtedly deserved criticism.

Celtic’s performances and results demanded scrutiny. Ferguson was perfectly entitled to question Nancy. On that particular issue, he arguably had a point.

But that makes Ferguson’s defence of McInnes more contradictory, not less.

McInnes deserves scrutiny too.

Nancy: three games. McInnes: three games.

One was immediately subjected to questions about his judgement. Criticism of the other is apparently a “ridiculous” overreaction.

Why?

If three games were enough to scrutinise Nancy, three games are enough to scrutinise McInnes.

Nobody needs to demand McInnes is sacked to recognise that distinction. The argument is about accountability.

Ferguson’s treatment of Brendan Rodgers provides another revealing comparison.

In 2018, he declared Rodgers was “no managerial mastermind”. Yet the Celtic manager had already delivered an undefeated domestic Treble.

McInnes, meanwhile, is now a “quality manager” who has “earned the right” to manage the Ibrox club.

Again, where is the evidence for such certainty?

Barry Ferguson and the McInnes contradiction

McInnes has been managing since 2007. His major top-flight trophy haul remains one Scottish League Cup with Aberdeen.

He has won a trophy, he’s not completely useless.

It does, however, make Ferguson’s unwavering conviction difficult to square with the forensic standards he has been prepared to apply across Glasgow.

Perhaps this is where that wonderfully vague Ibrox currency of being “staunch” becomes useful.

Strip away the mythology and what does staunch actually prove about managerial ability?

Very little.

Too often it appears to mean understanding the culture, saying the right things and projecting the required sense of entitlement.

Football offers a much less romantic measurement.

Win matches. Win trophies. Prove yourself.

Nancy deserved criticism after three matches because Celtic were not delivering.

McInnes deserves criticism when his team fails to deliver for precisely the same reason.

Yet Barry Ferguson seemingly wants one subjected to immediate examination while wrapping the other in patience and reassurance.

Why does McInnes get the pass that Nancy never received?

Celtic supporters can probably work that one out for themselves.

The Same pundit. Same three-game timeframe. Same expectation of results.

Completely different standard.