Barry Ferguson has made it a full house of Ibrox legends fearing TEN-IN-A-ROW.
Following on from Stuart McCall, Kevin Thompson, Walter Smith and Willie Henderson the Clyde boss has been explaining his fear of the moment he dreads to the Daily Record.
Throughout his playing career at Ibrox the old club were able to sign players that they couldn’t afford thanks to the EBT scheme used by David Murray.
Ferguson was one of the players who benefited most with the BBC claiming that he was paid £2.5m by that method. Ferguson’s older brother Derek is a regular pundit on Radio Scotland.
The cold reality of living within their means hasn’t been welcome at Ibrox with folk like Douglas Park and other coughing up the difference between income and spending to keep the club afloat.
Scrapping with Aberdeen for second place wasn’t part of the plan after last season’s Scottish Cup success over Ronny Deila with Ferguson feeling the pain as much as anyone on the Ibrox payroll.
“I actually feel sorry for the manager and my old team-mate Davie Weir who I know can’t stand settling for second best,” Fergie told the Daily Record.
“It will be killing both of them to know they are so far behind Celtic and there is so little they can do to close the gap.”
Looking at this week’s signing swoops he added: “A couple of loan players? That’s hardly the answer, even if both of these boys are top quality as they’ll be gone again before you know it.
“Rangers don’t need players for four months at a time. They need guys on four-year contracts who are fully committed to helping turn the club around. They need long-term solutions.
“That’s why Warburton must feel like he’s battering his head against a brick wall. He knows the title has already gone this season and the best he can aim for is to finish the season in second place.
“That’s a realistic target and it’s probably acceptable given where the club has been over the last few years but will it be acceptable again next season?
“Will Warburton be happy to go into the summer knowing he can’t compete against Celtic in the next campaign? Before a ball has even been kicked?
“That would give the manager a massive decision to make. On the one hand, he’s got one of the best jobs in football at one of the greatest clubs in the world. On the other, he’s on a hiding to nothing for as long as he can’t get closer to Celtic.
“That’s why I think he’ll be looking for answers from the board over the next few weeks. As a manager, as soon as one transfer window shuts you begin planning ahead for the next one.
“So from February 1, Warburton and Weir will be looking ahead to the summer and working on their list of targets. They will want to know as soon as possible what they’re going to be working with and rightly so.”
Ferguson has nothing to fear over Warbo being tempted away from Ibrox.
Robbie Neilson, whose record outstrips Warbo in every way and Alan Stubbs who won the Scottish Cup weren’t offered £400,000/ year salaries to go to MK Dons or Rotherham.