Ferguson spent most of his playing career at Rangers, in two spells either side of a £7.5 million transfer to English club Blackburn Rovers.

[8] Born in Hamilton into a Rangers-supporting family,[2] Ferguson's older brother Derek played for the club in the same midfield position in the 1980s, with the younger sibling often being invited behind the scenes at Ibrox Stadium as a child.

[12] In his early teens, although highly rated, he made it into the last thirty or so candidates for the Scotland Schoolboys squad at trials in Largs only to be rejected due to his 5 feet 5 inches (1.65 m)[12] stature,[13] later recalling "When I got out of the car, I went up and lay on my bed and thought to myself, 'You know what?

Ferguson became a regular fixture in the first team during the 1998–99 season under new manager Dick Advocaat (displacing fellow youth graduate Charlie Miller).

[11][17] Injury prevented him from being involved in the 1998–99 season run-in as the club achieved the treble; Ferguson watched the 1999 Scottish Cup final from the stands as Rangers won by a single goal, scored by Rod Wallace three minutes into the second half.

[18] Ferguson received minor facial injuries after engaging in a drunken hotel brawl following a 6–2 defeat to Celtic in August 2000.

[19][20] When the club crashed out of the UEFA Champions League group stage at the hands of AS Monaco, largely because of a mistake by captain Lorenzo Amoruso,[21] the Italian was stripped of the captaincy and it instead went to the 22-year-old Ferguson.

[22] An incident in which two bags of ice were thrown at the Celtic dug-out during a 2–0 defeat at Ibrox in September 2001 was attributed to Ferguson, who was criticised for his petulance and immaturity.

Ferguson played the latter part of the season carrying an ankle injury as Rangers ended up in a third-place finish in the Premier League.

[39] After an incident in the dressing room at Caledonian Stadium, Inverness, on 27 December 2006,[40] it was announced on BBC Radio Scotland's New Year's Day broadcast of Sportsound that Ferguson had been stripped of the Rangers captaincy after a meeting with then manager Paul Le Guen.

'"[36] The match at Motherwell was won 1–0 by Rangers, and goalscorer Kris Boyd reportedly showed solidarity with the deposed skipper by holding up six fingers, in reference to Ferguson's shirt number.

Later that year, sports journalist Graham Spiers published Paul Le Guen: Enigma, documenting his tenure at the club.

According to Spiers, Le Guen left because he was being "undermined" by other Rangers personnel,[41] including Ferguson and then club doctor, Ian McGuinness.

[48] On 14 May 2008, Ferguson made his 400th appearance for Rangers in the UEFA Cup Final against Zenit Saint Petersburg at the City of Manchester Stadium; he captained the side to a 2–0 defeat.

In April 2009, after an extended hotel drinking session with Rangers teammate Allan McGregor after Scotland's defeat to the Netherlands,[51] followed by both players making inappropriate gestures while on the bench during the next match against Iceland, Ferguson was stripped of the captain's armband for both club and country.

[6] He recovered from this setback to help Rangers win the 2009 Scottish Cup Final against Falkirk[52] (his last match for the club, having not started since the Scotland incident).

[57] Ferguson overtook David Narey's record for the number of European appearances made whilst playing for a Scottish club by starting in a UEFA Cup match against Werder Bremen.

He broke Kenny Dalglish's record for the number of competitive European appearances by a Scottish footballer when he played in his 80th match in Europe, against Sporting CP.

On 17 July 2009, Ferguson completed a move to English Premier League newcomers Birmingham City on a three-year contract for an undisclosed fee,[58] reported as "in the region of £1.2m".

[59] Joining up with boss Alex McLeish once again,[5] the former Rangers manager said that Ferguson has "unfinished business in England" and that he believed the former Scottish international to be "very capable of competing with the best players in the Premier League.

[62] Ferguson helped Birmingham beat Arsenal in the 2011 League Cup Final at Wembley, despite playing the last hour of the game with a broken rib.

[64] In season 2009–10 Ferguson had the highest number of completed passes of any player in the Barclays Premier League, according to Opta statistics.

[65] With Birmingham needing to reduce their wage bill following their relegation from the Premier League, Ferguson joined Championship club Blackpool on 22 July 2011 for an undisclosed fee, reported to be around £750,000.

[66][67][68] He was given the captain's armband (taking over from Charlie Adam, who had departed for Liverpool) for the club's opening League fixture at Hull City on 5 August.

"[71] He initially stated that he would not be playing while in the managerial role,[73] but on 12 April, at Leeds, he named himself in the starting line-up in an attempt to stave off the threat of relegation.

[84] Towards the end of the 2–0 defeat to Lowland League club Spartans in the second round of the Scottish Cup, Ferguson was sent to the stands after a verbal altercation with Clyde supporters.

[88] Clyde went on a poor run of form during his third season, failing to win a league match in December, January or February.

[93] Ferguson guided Kelty into the SPFL for the first time in their history when they beat Brechin City over two legs in the Scottish League Two play-offs at the end of the 2020–21 campaign.

[97] On 24 February 2025, Ferguson was appointed as interim head coach of Scottish Premiership club Rangers following the dismissal of Philippe Clement.

[103] In July 2017 it was reported that Ferguson successfully applied for bankruptcy after running up debts of £1,425,633, whilst having only £3,000 worth of assets to help pay off his creditors.