Clubs backed into

corner by players

RETURN?: Rovers may find it hard to stop Barry Ferguson if he wants to go back to Scotland

BLACKBURN Rovers might be determined not to sell Barry Ferguson back to Rangers but Mark Hughes may ultimately have no choice in the end.

Once a player says he wants to leave a club, it's virtually impossible for his employers not to bow to his wishes.

I'm afraid the days of footballers honouring their contracts is long gone.

The balance of power is now heavily stacked in favour of the players, and clubs can't afford to let things like principles get in the way of what makes good business sense.

Barry Ferguson's position isn't unique. In fact, it mirrors the situation Birmingham City find themselves in over Robbie Savage right now.

If a player wants to move, and it seems with Barry that's clearly the case, then, invariably, he ends up getting his way eventually, regardless of what his employers might think.

In the long term, where's the sense in Rovers keeping a player whose heart may no longer be in keeping the club in the Premiership?

Barry is clearly unsettled, and if some of the stories emerging from Scotland are to be believed then he has been from virtually the first moment he signed for Rovers.

The speculation about his future got so intense earlier this week that John Williams had to summon Barry and his agent, John Viola, to a meeting.

It would now appear Barry indicated in that meeting he would be interested in a Rangers return and when that happens then 99 times out of a hundred, the player ends up getting his way.

Just why he'd want to go back to Scotland is another issue entirely.

I know when I left Rovers for West Brom in the Nineties, I would have jumped at the chance of returning to Blackburn if they'd have ever come back in for me.

When you've grown up at a club, you feel a great affinity towards it and I can understand why Barry still has a strong pull towards Rangers.

But from a career point of view, going back to Scotland would be a backward step for a player who has yet to reach his peak.

People have suggested one possible solution might be for Rovers to agree a deal with Rangers on the basis he stays for the rest of the season.

I can't see that working, though. In that situation, would Barry be fully committed to the cause knowing that he's off at the end of the season anyway, regardless of whether Rovers stay up or not?

In the meantime, Mark Hughes must keep his mind focused on the job of getting a result at Portsmouth tomorrow.

As a player, I used to love playing at Fratton Park because you were always guaranteed a cracking atmosphere.

On top of that, I once scored a hat-trick there!

We used to have some cracking battles with Pompey in the Eighties.

I remember we once played each other in an FA Cup tie that was featured on Match of the Day and Jimmy famously referred to a tackle by Glenn Keeley on a Portsmouth striker as the 'beginning of World War 3'.

There was always a bit of extra needle between the two sides from that moment on.