THE RUSSELL Martin era has started in earnest for Rangers.
But how might the Barry Ferguson era have turned out?
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The Gers hero came from nowhere when he landed the interim boss job at Ibrox after Philippe Clement was sacked.
He hadn’t been coaching for three years but he and three other former Rangers stars in Billy Dodds, Neil McCann and Allan McGregor were handed the reigns in Govan for the final few months of last season.
Their arrival preceded the confirmation of the takeover of the club by Andrew Cavenagh and the 49ers Enterprises and when the time came, the new owners decided to go in a different direction with Martin.
The former Scotland international, who had a six-month spell with the Light Blues in 2018, has so far signed 11 players as part of his Rangers revolution.
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Nine of them had no previous Scottish Premiership experience, and the two that do – Lyall Cameron and Oscar Cortes – technically had their deals agreed prior to Martin’s arrival.
Ex-coach Dodds offered some insight earlier this summer into how a transfer window would have looked under them.
He said they would have tried to focus on signing Scottish-based players and Ferguson has now name-dropped two specific stars who were on his radar.
Speaking on Go Radio, he revealed that Josh Mulligan and Lawrence Shankland would have been on his wishlist.
He said: “We came up against Dundee and I think he (Mulligan) was a central midfielder.
“We beat them 4-3, but they were miles better in the first half and he stood out for me like a sore thumb.
“Very athletic, strong. A good player, he was linked with Rangers wasn’t he? He is certainly one guy I would have taken.
“Listen, he has went to Hibs and I think David Gray has got a top performer there.
“You do look at other clubs and the younger ones they have brought through, Dundee are a brilliant example.
“Luke McCowan has gone to Celtic and hasn’t looked out of place, Lyall Cameron has gone to Rangers and done superbly well.
“There are a lot of good players at other clubs, and I think it would be ignorant to ignore them, because I think they could do a job.”
And quizzed on whether he would have tried to sign the out-of-contract Shankland, he said: “I have always liked Shankland.
“I think he has improved as he got older. i just like him, his all round game is really good.
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“He does the hardest thing and that is to score goals.
“I think Derek McInnes has done well to convince him (to stay at Hearts), but he could have easily went to either of the Old Firm.”
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