Pragmatism.
“The quality of dealing with a problem in a sensible way that suits the conditions that really exist, rather than following fixed theories, ideas or rules.”
That definition also describes exactly how Barry Ferguson is going about this job as Rangers manager.
And it perfectly sums up how his team left Celtic Park on Sunday with a much deserved victory over their Old Firm rivals.
Ferguson isn’t a defensive minded coach. Nor is he one with a specific attacking philosophy.
He’s a pragmatist. Just like his mentor, Walter Smith.
Just like his former team-mate, who has regularly been touted for the role, Derek McInnes. And it just so happens that right now at Ibrox – that’s exactly what this group of players need.
Ferguson’s win at Parkhead wasn’t one for the purists or football hipsters.
Not once in his pre or post match interviews did he talk about xG, low blocks or shots on target.
He just got the job done with what he had at his disposal. And ultimately, that’s what his predecessor, Philippe Clement, couldn’t do.
Far too often, the big Belgian tried to complicate matters. By the end of his tenure, he was driving punters crazy with some of his comments.
Whether it was sports science – or daring to have a pop at serial winner Jose Mourinho’s tactics just days after his team had lost to Queen’s Park – Clement was in danger of losing the plot.
Ferguson has simplified things at Ibrox, on and off the pitch.
It’s no coincidence, for example, that almost immediately taking on the role as interim gaffer, EVERY player bar Oscar Cortes has declared themselves fully fit.
When was that the case under Clement? After 120 minutes of graft against Fenerbahce last midweek, he’d have turned up on the other side of the city talking about ‘managing minutes’.
But before an Old Firm derby that phrase would never leave Ferguson’s mouth. There’s no way the former manager would have started Leon Balogun or Dujon Sterling against Celtic after their exertions in Europe.
It’s believed the club’s sports scientists told the current gaffer that the pair – along with Vaclav Cerny and Mo Diomande – were in the red zone and in danger of burn-out.
But Ferguson’s only concern was getting his best team out on the park – and getting a result. That’s exactly what happened on Sunday. Pragmatism.
And in actual fact, despite Celtic’s squad strength – you could argue that Rangers’ bench was stronger than the champions’ at the weekend.
For Ferguson to get that kind of buy-in so early in his Ibrox stint with players who know there’s a chance he won’t be in charge come the summer is a feat he and his staff deserve huge credit for.
Beating Fenerbahce over two legs in the Europa League was impressive. But irrespective of what was at stake league-wise on Sunday, the 3-2 triumph over Celtic was probably even more important for the club’s former skipper.
To describe his set-up as basic or rudimentary would be disrespectful.
Not for the first time already, Ferguson got his tactics spot on – and he tweaked it in-game, another thing that Clement was so reluctant to do.
But above everything else, it was pragmatic. He devised a plan with what he had and went with it. The crucial thing is, though, that he’s getting these players to work.
This column has banged on for months about their lack of urgency, desire and intensity. They turned it on when they felt like it.
The problem with his group has been attitude, not ability. But that changed on Sunday. They put a shift in for Ferguson and when he turned and pointed to his players in front of the Parkhead travelling support at full-time – that was him giving them something back.
That kind of thing can forge winning teams. And it’s why he now has given him a serious chance of getting the gig on a permanent basis.
Certainly, his old boss Smith would have looked down with pride on Sunday – at the performance and result.
Remember, Ferguson is the first Rangers manager to win his first Old Firm game at Celtic Park since Smith did it in 1991.
And his maiden derby success reminded you of a classic Smith display at the same venue.
When he returned to the club in January 2007 for a second spell in charge, Rangers were 17 points behind in the table with the title gone.
They had only won once at Parkhead in seven years. But in March, Smith cobbled a team together and dug out a 1-0 victory courtesy of Ugo Ehiogu’s goal.
This was a Celtic team which boasted talent like Shunsuke Nakamura, Neil Lennon, Aiden McGeady and Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink.
Smith stuck Filip Sebo up front, Ian Murray at left-back and gave Ehiogu his Old Firm bow. A lesson in pragmatism. The win put down a marker, just like Ferguson did on Sunday.
Smith got the points gap down to 12 by the end of that season. The following year, it was neck-and-neck before Celtic nicked it as he led Gers to a UEFA Cup Final and domestic double.
And of course, the next season Rangers were champions again at the start of a three-in-a-row run for their legendary gaffer.
It’s far too early to say if Ferguson will enjoy anything like that type of success. Listen, the club’s new American owners might already have their own guy and he’s nowhere near it.
But they might like what they see in the interim gaffer. And if they decide it’s not a foreign coach with a philosophy they want.
And instead it’s a pragmatic Scot who knows the club and the game here inside out?
He might just be their man after all.