BARRY FERGUSON admits his competitive spirit will shine through once again when he pulls on his boots in the Star Sixes next year.
The former Rangers captain will join legends of the game in Glasgow as the tournament comes north of the border for the first time.
Ferguson will line-up against the likes of Robert Pires, Jorg Albertz and Stan Petrov and is determined to inspire his side to success on home soil.
“One hundred percent. We start pre-season at the start of November. That’s how seriously we’re taking it,” said Ferguson, who will be representing Scotland at the Glasgow edition of Star Sixes, a competitive six-a-side tournament for international legends being held at the SSE Hydro in January.
“We thought were winning it after we beat Mexico 3-1 last year. Then we just blew up after it for the simple fact we weren’t fit enough.
“So all the boys based up here are meeting once or twice a week to get fit and do it properly. Last thing you want to do in Glasgow is finish sixth or whatever.
“I want to challenge and try to win it. We’re taking it seriously. All the boys are up for it.
“I think I look better than some of them! You could clearly see the last time they looked after themselves.
“We spoke to a few of the guys – after it we went back for a meal – and a lot of the teams had met up six weeks prior to the tournament.
“So we’ll do it a wee bit better and meet up eight weeks before so there are no excuses this time.
“There are a couple of changes from last year but all the guys I’ve spoken to are up for meeting and doing it properly.”
*Star Sixes reunites the world’s greatest players in national team colours to renew old rivalries in six-a-side action. SSE Hydro, Glasgow, 4-6 January. Tickets from £20/£10 at www.thessehydro.com
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here