Barry Ferguson insists Jack Butland still has ‘huge part’ to play at Rangers

Interim manager Barry Ferguson insisted dropped Rangers keeper Jack Butland still has a “huge part” at Ibrox after replacement Liam Kelly saved a penalty in the pulsating goalless Europa League draw with Athletic Bilbao.

Ferguson made the big call to drop the Englishman for the first leg of the quarter-final tie in Govan after a series of errors and in the 79th minute – after defender Robin Propper was sent off in the 13th minute for a challenge on Inaki Williams – Kelly sensationally saved a spot-kick from Alex Berenguer.

The Gers valiantly held out against Ernesto Valverde’s side through 12 added minutes and have plenty to play for in the second in Spain next Thursday night.

Ferguson said of his goalkeeper switch: “It was one of the toughest things I’ve had to do.

“Firstly, I think Jack Buckland is a top goalkeeper. Secondly, I’ve got a very, very good relationship with Jack.

“I’ve known Jack a long time, he was a young kid coming through Birmingham when I went down to play for Birmingham in the Premier League.

“Thirdly, I’ve got to know it’s hurting Jack and I’ve got to be mindful of that as well. Because I care for him.

“I just had to make a decision and it was a tough decision when I spoke to him. I could see it was hurting. You go with decisions.

“It’s not one that I decided on Saturday night or Sunday. I thought long and hard about it.

“When I spoke to him, it was a tough 10-15 minutes conversation.

But, listen, Jack’s still got a huge part to play here. In terms of Liam coming in, I thought he’d done well tonight.”

Ferguson claimed clear-the-air talks after the demoralising 2-0 defeat by Hibernian on Saturday “sunk in” to his players, with Rangers ending the game with nine men after Dujon Sterling had to go off injured with all the substitutes used.

The former Gers captain promised to make big changes with two enforced as centre-back John Souttar and midfielder Mohamed Diomande were suspended.

Aside from dropping Butland, Ferguson also left out Jefte, Connor Barron and Hamza Igamane and brought in Propper, Leon Balogun and Ridvan Yilmaz, 18-year-old midfielder Bailey Rice – making only his second start and who was taken from the field in the second half on a stretcher with a neck brace on and attacker Ianis Hagi.

He said: “Really proud of the effort and the commitment that my players showed tonight.

“Obviously difficult when you go down to 10 men.

“What I’ve seen tonight out there was a team that took the instructions on.

“Obviously the chat we had on Monday really sunk in. They took the information in as well and that’s important.

“I think anybody watching the game tonight would have seen a team that will run through brick walls for each other.

“I’m proud of the guys, how they took that information on. It’s not the way we wanted to play this game.

“But I thought overall, the boys, after letting them know a few long truths on Saturday and Monday, I’ve got to give them a lot of credit for tonight.”