Barry Ferguson believes he is ready to prove the doubters wrong over his Premier League potential.
Birmingham player hoping to silence doubters
Birmingham midfielder Barry Ferguson is hoping to erase any doubts about his Premier League credentials during the current season.
Ferguson has spent nearly his entire career in Scotland with Rangers, but had a brief foray into England's top flight with Blackburn Rovers a few years ago.
After an injury-plagued stay at Ewood Park, Ferguson opted for a return to the blue-half of Glasgow and continued his career in Scotland.
But the 31-year-old claims that he became an integral part of Rovers' team during that period, a fact he says many of the doubters are quick to forget.
Ferguson told the
Daily Mail: "I know people are looking at it. They are saying, 'He had 20 months there, he was out for eight, so what did he prove?'
Injury
"I felt I was doing well but I picked up a bad injury at Newcastle. You can still see the scar on my left knee. And that's all they remember. After that, they saw I went back to Rangers.
"I don't want to defend myself or sound arrogant but when Souness left, Mark Hughes wanted to build the team around me.
"I was offered a contract extension, if the people at Blackburn thought that, I must have been doing something right."
The former Scotland international made the switch to Birmingham under a cloud of controversy in the summer after he made gestures on television when sitting out a World Cup qualifier for a previous breach of discipline.
Along with former team-mate Allan McGregor, Ferguson was banned permanently from representing his country and transfer-listed by Rangers.
Considered quitting
Although Ferguson accepts that he made a mistake and deserved punishment, he is still disappointed with how the situation was handled by the Scottish Football Association.
He added: "I'm not the first guy to make a mistake, am I?
"I accept I made those mistakes and I felt it was handled well by Rangers, who did it man-to-man.
"But that didn't happen with Scotland. I was told I wasn't playing again by a piece of paper. I thought it was poor.
"If you have a problem with a guy, go and speak to him face-to-face, That's what my dad brought me up to do.
"Now I realise what went on, I've said my piece. I've got to be honest, after everything that happened at the time, I did wonder whether I wanted to carry on.
"I've got other interests, business interests, that I could have concentrated on away from football."
