Lewis Ferguson believes he and childhood friend Billy Gilmour can lead Scotland into a bright new future under new head coach Sebastien Pocognoli. The pair impressed in midfield as Pocognoli began his reign with a Nations League point in Slovenia, playing in a new 3-4-1-2 system that could be retained against Switzerland.
Childhood friends reunited
Ferguson and Gilmour came through the ranks together at Rangers and now play in Serie A, with Ferguson captaining Bologna and Gilmour at Napoli. Ferguson said: “Yes, I think we work well together because we’re completely different profiles of players. We both bring different things that can affect the game and help the team. We’ve also got a really good relationship too. I think we work well together and I hope we can continue that. We were at Rangers. He’s not really changed, to be honest.”
Injury setbacks and renewed hunger
Gilmour missed this year’s World Cup after suffering a knee injury in the final warm-up game against Curacao, while Ferguson missed Euro 2024 with an ACL injury. Ferguson senses a new drive in Gilmour: “Probably. I went through a similar thing, you do get that wee flip when you think ‘Right, this is it…’ It’s not to say that before that you’ve not got that edge. But it maybe brings something different out in you, knowing that…it’s obviously the World Cup, something you work towards for a very long time, it’s a dream for every kid. For Billy to miss out, it was massively disappointing and maybe it’s triggered something inside him to give him that wee edge. I’m so happy for him to be back and playing football again.”
Gilmour had a stop-start season at Napoli last term due to injuries, but Ferguson says the Napoli fans love him: “I’d imagine the fans and the people at Napoli love him. He’s had quite a tough time, he’s always been in and out a lot, but that’s what happens when you’re at a top team. We played them not that long ago. He obviously played alongside Stanislav Lobotka and usually we would be thinking it would be one or the other. But I think they had a few injuries, obviously Scott was out actually. So he was going to be playing. But yeah, they always highlight him as a key figure, someone who likes to get on the ball, likes to dominate the games - like his midfield partner in that game. He's obviously shown how good a player he can be now in the Napoli team.”
Ferguson's resilience and future
Gilmour scored a rare goal against Fiorentina last week, only his second career strike, which made Ferguson laugh: “I know, I was laughing. He never scores! Especially from a corner. I text him straight after, because he ran away with the Shearer celebration. I thought, where have you pulled that from?”
Ferguson himself faced a summer of uncertainty, with an emotional return to Rangers mooted, and then three new head coaches in two months for club and country. He said: “There’s not much you can do about it, to be honest. In my eyes it’s just about trying to impress them. You’ve got something to improve again. They’re maybe coming in and they don’t know too much about you. It’s not difficult, it’s just about proving yourself again to a manager and showing that he can trust you to have a role within his team. All you can do is just try to impress.”
He added: “I was in Disneyland with the kids so my phone was put away. And to be honest, I'm not the sort of person to go on and read it. I got a lot of people asking me, of course, because if people see it, their first thought will be 'I'll phone or text Lewis and see what he's saying'. But it's the same answer from me every time. I just switched off after the World Cup. I think I've been pretty good with dealing with a lot of things. I'm a lot more experienced now. I've got a young family and I feel like in any team, even when I come here, I can be a leader. I feel I can deal with setbacks now because of what happened with the injuries and stuff, when I was younger and got released. I came back and all those things build your character. All of those wee things over the years have helped me become the person I am. Resilience is so important in players now. Nothing is ever going to be plain sailing. You're not always going to get your own way - even in a 90-minute game. There's always going to be spells when you suffer. And then it's about resilience - can you bounce back, can you win the game? There's always going to be setbacks as a player. It's about resilience and how you come back from it.”
