I hate to admit it- Barry Ferguson’s Gio confession as he puts the boot into former team-mate

Barry Ferguson has finally admitted that watching Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s side was painful on the eyes.

Billed as a Dutch Master a year ago it seemed that a few tweaks to Steven Gerrard’s system had transformed the side with seven SPFL wins providing plenty of new manager bounce.

Then came the winter break, points dropped at Aberdeen and Ross County before Ange Postecoglou’s side left their city rivals battered and bruised, heading in at half-time 3-0 down.

Celtic never looked back, won at Ibrox in April on route to the title then opened a nine point gap that led to Van Bronckhorst getting paid off.

Now after a couple of staged media interviews Beale has transformed Scottish football with Ferguson free to criticise his former team-mate.

The ex Alloa boss told the Daily Record:

And, as much as I hate to admit it, in the last few months under Giovanni van Bronckhorst, it became a struggle to see what the team was actually setting out to achieve.

The big question is, can he make that happen with the players he has at his disposal? Because it doesn’t matter what philosophy or playing style any new manager wants to implement – whether he stands or falls is almost always determined by the quality of players inside his dressing room.

So it was interesting to hear him bigging up the squad on his first day too. He says, in his eyes, they are proven winners because of what they have already achieved together over the last couple of years. Fair enough. I also genuinely believe there are good players at Rangers. No doubt about it.

But I look back at the last six months and I worry about the state they have got themselves into. Too many of them were guilty of letting the last manager down. The drop off in standards is the main reason Gio is out of a job. So, if Beale is to succeed where the last man failed, then first and foremost he’ll be relying on these guys to get the finger out, pronto!

With the Winter Break Trophy inside the Blue Room Beale can soon show out on the pitch what a footballing visionary he really is while Ferguson, Neil McCann and Kevin Thomson jostle for a new trackie with initials.