BARRY FERGUSON and ALLAN McGREGOR

This "V" s For "Vacation" (From The National Team)

On Saturday 3 April 2009, the Scottish FA announced that Scotland internationals and Rangers' teammates Barry Ferguson and Allan McGregor, were banned from making any further national team appearances. The bans were the result of the duo's conduct over the previous week, which included a late-night drinking session after a Scotland loss to the Netherlands on 29 March and making "rude gestures" while on the bench for a match against Iceland on 1 April.

Ferguson had been a stalwart for Scotland, earning his 45th cap in the match against the Netherlands - 28 of those as captain. He was also a key player for Rangers, having played for them from 1994 to 2003, then returning at the start of the 2005-06 season when he was given the captain's armband by then-manager Alex McLeish. 

McGregor, by contrast, had made only 6 appearances for Scotland before the ban. He had played for Rangers since 2001, with a couple of loan spells in the 2004-05 and 2005-06 seasons and had captained the club in the absence of Ferguson. 

Rangers also took action, suspending both players for two weeks and stripping the captaincy from Ferguson. I am sure that any future Scottish managers would offer a friendly palm leaf to them, EVEN NOW!

Barry Ferguson awarded MBE 17th June 2006.

Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1997–2003	Rangers	151	(24)
2003–2005	Blackburn Rovers	36	(3)
2005–2009	Rangers	137	(20)
2009–2011	Birmingham City	72	(0)
2011–2014	Blackpool	80	(1)
2012	→ Fleetwood Town (loan)	6	(0)
2014–2015	Clyde	1	(0)
Total		484	(48)
International career
1997–1998	Scotland U21	12	(1)
1998–2009	Scotland	45	(3)
Managerial career
2014	Blackpool (caretaker)
2014–2017	Clyde
2018–2021	Kelty Hearts
2021–2022	Alloa Athletic

The incident has been referred to by the media as Boozegate. Gestures made by the players to cameras when they were both unused substitutes in the Iceland match led the SFA to inform the players by fax that they would not be considered for national team selection again. McGregor later apologised and was docked two weeks' wages by Rangers. McGregor was on the verge of being recalled to the national team by manager Craig Leiven, but was omitted from the squad after he was attacked on the way home from a night out in Glasgow city centre.  On 2 August 2010, McGregor was recalled to the national team for friendly against Sweden, in a 3–0  defeat. He made a number of important saves in the match to prevent a heavier defeat.