Derek Ferguson was sitting, sweltering on the sidelines last Saturday at Bologna’s Niccolo Galli Technical Centre, watching his boy Lewis limber up for the new Serie A football season in a closed-doors friendly match against recently-relegated Pisa.
Two smartly-dressed football executives sat down nearby and pointed towards the playing surface. One said to the other, in an American drawl: ‘That’s the boy Ferguson. He should be going to Rangers.’
‘I was gonna say something,’ recalls Derek, ‘but I thought, just zip it, just sit there and then Lewis came over with a bottle of water for me cos it was roasting. These guys obviously knew him and the three of them got chatting.’
It turns out one of them was the owner of Pisa, billionaire business leader Alexander Knaster, and the other was the club’s sporting director Leonardo Gabbanini.
Lewis says: ‘It was quite funny because the sporting director used to be the chief scout at Watford and they tried to sign me when I was playing for Aberdeen. I’d obviously never seen him face to face.
Scotland midfielder Lewis Ferguson has been at Bologna for four years
‘All the chat was over the phone.’
And, thankfully from his point of view, there was no chat between his old man and the Pisa top brass at the mention of ‘the boy Ferguson’.
‘I behaved myself, didn’t I?’ says Derek. ‘I got told, I got warned, not to be shouting from the sidelines or getting involved so I just sat there and said nothing.’
Lewis chips in: ‘I wasn’t so worried about him at a closed-doors game because I think he would keep his mouth shut. Obviously I’ve never seen him in action in a stadium because I’m on the pitch. Just so long as he’s not going over the top that’s okay with me!’
‘I’m there as a fan,’ is Derek’s response. ‘It’s a great thing for me because I can let go a wee bit and I can enjoy it, supporting him and supporting Bologna. Being there at the game, I’m excited. I love the atmosphere.’
‘In fact, the two of us are sitting here in Lewis’s house right now, halfway up a hill, in the San Luca area of the city, overlooking the stadium (the Renato Dall Ara) and there’s something really special about it. Everytime I’m in the ground, it’s a strange feeling, an amazing feeling, it’s almost religious, I love it.’
Lewis Ferguson and dad Derek during his time at Hamilton Accies
Lewis is also loving life in Italy with wife Lauren and daughters Lake (three) and one-year-old Lorena. Lake goes to an international nursery in Bologna and is becoming, like her dad, bilingual.
‘When we were back in Scotland, before the World Cup, I took Lake to the park. She was playing on a climbing frame with the other wee kids and, at one point, she was hanging off the side. She shouted for help but she did it in Italian.
‘Auito’ she was saying and I told her nobody was going to understand what she meant. When she counts to ten, part of it’s in English and some of the numbers are in Italian.’
How much longer will Lewis be in Bologna? It’s four years and counting. We’ll get around to that but his mention of the World Cup brings the conversation for now around to Scotland.
‘When I think back now it feels bittersweet. It was absolutely amazing, the experience, I loved every minute of it. Being with that squad, that group of players and staff every single day.
‘You’re with them all, literally 24/7 for a month or so and the amount of laughs and good times we had together. All the stuff on the training pitch and in the games I absolutely loved although two of them never went our way.
‘So, in terms of the experience and the whole organisation of everything, it was amazing but it’s just the feeling we could’ve done more.
‘There’s a wee bit of regret there, a wee bit of bitterness that I feel we didn’t quite show the best version of ourselves and I would have just loved for us to be able to continue and get through to the next round.
Lewis Ferguson was one of Steve Clarke’s trusted lieutenants during the World Cup
‘While we were there it just felt as if it was never going to end. I had that feeling because we’d spent so much time together and you just don’t think there’s a chance you’ll go out and it’ll all be over. And then suddenly you’re away on holiday and looking back on it and feeling a wee bit ofregret.’
Lewis certainly shouldn’t be feeling any regret about his own performance in the US. He was probably Scotland’s top player. Others we expected to flourish on the big stage didn’t deliver. Perhaps a first World Cup since 1998, and an expanded format allowing 32 teams into the knockout phase, added up to too much pressure to perform.
‘I don’t know if there was a pressure but there was definitely an expectation because I think we expected to go through the group.
‘If you asked any of the players before any of the preparations, before any of the games, if you were to look at who we had in the squad, you would reckon we had a chance. We expect a lot of ourselves, we put the pressure on ourselves to do that because, when you look around the dressing room and you see the quality we’ve got, that sort of team spirit that’s unmatched, I expected us to get through the group.
‘So it was disappointing that we didn’t manage to do it but the pressure doesn’t really come from outside. It comes from us expecting high standards from within.’
What’s next for Lewis in club football? He won’t be jumping into a decision, that’s for sure. And his dad’s a good sounding board after a career which took him to Rangers and Hearts, among others, and won him a couple of Scotland caps.
‘I’ll always ask his opinion,’ says Lewis. ‘I’ll always ask his advice, whether I agree with it or not.
‘Football things in general, I’ll run it by him. There have been some times when he’s told me one thing and I disagree and go the other way but I always want to know what he thinks. He’s had his own football career and he’s been through it all. He’s kept me on the right path so I’ll always pick his brains.’
Derek knows his boy will make the right choice.
‘I just love the lifestyle that he’s created for himself and his wee family. He’ll be 27 in a week or so and I think, the way he is, he’ll play into his late thirties because he can play different roles.
‘So it’s about looking out there for different challenges and that’s what I love about him. I’ll say one thing and he’ll take it on board but if he thinks he should go in the other direction that’s what he’ll do. He’s strong minded.’
Lewis is relaxed in the knowledge that there’s plenty of interest swirling around but he could just as easily stay where he is.
‘I’ve still got two years here plus the option of a third year so there’s still a bit of time left on my contract.
Ferguson faces up to Scotland team-mate John McGinn before a Europa League tie
‘I’m happy here and I feel at home but then I’m always open to any other opportunities. I would listen to what they have to say and that’s whenever.
‘That’s the way I’ve always been since I was young. If any opportunity cropped up I would listen and then I would decide if it was right for me.
‘I feel like when I moved here it was the perfect step in my career. The last four years, what Bologna’s given me has been immense and I feel as if I’ve given that back to the club as well.
‘It’s been fantastic so, if I was to stay, great and, if I was to move on to a new challenge, again great. It would be a different experience and you have to do it all again which is all part of football.
‘I’ve got used to the outside noise about where I’m supposed to be going next. Every transfer window, since I was 18 or 19, there have always been links with other clubs being spoken about back home. What’s said in the media is fine but it’s never going to affect me or what I do.
‘I never want to waste my energy on reading something that might not be true. I prefer to stay calm and let it fly over my head. The only time I start to think about it is when there’s something concrete and there’s real interest.’
Derek laughs. ‘When he left Aberdeen, there were a couple of other Italian teams that were interested in him and I was pointing him in that direction. It was him who chose Bologna and I was asking why. But he said he had a gut feeling and I think he made a pretty good choice.
‘It’s the most successful Bologna have been in a long, long time. He’s very driven. He knows where he wants to go and I’m just enjoying the journey.’
