Boyd urges Barry to stay

HIGHLAND hero Kris Boyd does not believe Barry Ferguson will be tempted on a return to the Premiership after Newcastle declared a public interest in the Rangers skipper. 

Boyd, who scored twice in yesterday’s 3-0 win at Inverness, feels Ferguson would prefer to remain at Rangers,

Boyd said: “We know in this market everyone has his price and whatever happens happens – that’s the way football is

“But I’m sure Barry wants to stay here and play his football with Rangers.

“He has left the club once before and didn’t particularly enjoy his time down south. Now he’s enjoying it and he’s back to being the player he once was.

“We don’t want to lose him and I’m sure the manager won’t want to lose him either because he’s such a huge influence on the team.”

Walter Smith was disappointed with Joe Kinnear’s public comments about Ferguson and Newcastle have also been linked with a move for Madjid Bougherra.

However, Boyd insists that speculation did not affect Rangers in a poor first half in the Highlands.

He said: “Inverness made it difficult for us in the first half and all credit to them for doing so. They’ve been struggling recently but still came out and had a go. When we got in at half time we had a chat and basically knew we had to do better.

“The message at the break was that a few of us would be coming off if we didn’t improve in the first 15 minutes after the break. And it was a great goal from Pedro that set us up to go on and win.”

Boyd’s double takes him to 20 goals for the season which has thrilled him but he knows that continuing to cut into Celtic’s SPL lead is the key.

He said: “I’m obviously delighted with the number of goals I’ve scored so far but the bottom line is we are still five points behind Celtic which isn’t good.

“We need to go again when the league resumes after the Scottish Cup and get ourselves back within touching distance of Celtic.

“I was pleased with my goals but at the other end Allan McGregor was just as important. He made world-class saves and the one just prior to our second goal proved how important he is to our team.”