Barry takes over at the Bully Wee

TAKING OVER: New man at Clyde, Barry Ferguson, is pictured during his Blackpool days.

Ferguson enjoyed a long playing career before taking his first steps into management earlier this year.

At the age of 19 he made his senior debut for Rangers in 1997.

He went on to notch up almost 300 appearances for Rangers over two separate spells.

In between those periods, Barry enjoyed his first experience of the English Premier League during a two-year stint with Blackburn Rovers.

He returned to the EPL after leaving Rangers in 2009, joiningBirmingham City.

Barry’s next moved to Blackpool and, following the departure of Paul Ince at the begining of this year, he was installed as The Seasiders’ caretaker manager.

The 36-year-old also holds a total of 45 Scotland caps, with three goals for his country.

The club have also confirmed the appointment of Malky Thomson as assistant head coach. Malky has worked at several clubs in Scotland and also in other countries.

Bob Malcolm will also join the coaching team, having worked alongside Barry at Blackpool.

Clyde chairman John Alexander said: “We are delighted that Barry has committed himself to taking Clyde forward as player-coach.

“He won us over with his vision for developing our squad and commitment to building on our existing youth policy, as he establishes himself as a manager in the Scottish game.

“We undertook a thorough recruitment process and we were fortunate to have many quality candidates keen to be involved with Clyde.”

Barry has made his aims clear.

He told the club’s website: “I want to get promotion. I’m going to give every ounce I’ve got to do that.

“I’m not looking at this as a part-time job, I’ve got no other commitments so I’ll be putting everything into trying to get Clyde back up the leagues.

“I want the club to be a happy place and the players to walk about with a smile on their face. Being honest, the boys aren’t doing it for the money and it shows me that they want to play football.”