clutch cable ford escort r res?

ive crawled under the dash and found a white plastic thing with a channel in it and the cable runs in the channel..this thing is loose and flopping around and the cable has come out of part way..how can i get at it to repair it ,the cable is not broken and i found all this after being towed home after the clutch went straight to floor when i was changing down, can someone please help? its a r reg escort 55 diesel van