Derek Ferguson believes Rangers’ recruitment remains a major concern and has questioned whether the club have assembled a squad capable of delivering success in the here and now.
The former Rangers midfielder was speaking after the 1-0 victory over Motherwell, with the Ibrox side preparing for a crucial run of fixtures against St Mirren before a double header with Celtic.
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While Ferguson was encouraged by the performance against Motherwell, he remains concerned by the age and experience of the squad, arguing that Rangers cannot afford to operate like a club building for the future.
He believes there are too many players being brought in as potential long-term projects rather than established performers capable of immediately handling the demands of playing for Rangers.
Derek Ferguson blasts Rangers recruitment
“We've been critical with the recruitment. Recruitment clearly has not been good enough. I sometimes, even at the moment, I question whether recruitment's up to par,” he said on the All About The Gers Podcast.
“Because Derek [McInnes] needs as much help as he can. I've said, we've got a lot of young players, a lot of young boys. They look like projects to me.
“Projects don't win you leagues. For me, I think there's a lack of experienced players, players of genuine quality there.
“What we've got is guys that we're hoping are going to be top drawer. But that's a project, that sometimes takes two, three, four years to develop. We've not got that.
“When you play for the Rangers, it's about the here and the now, and it's about winning.”
Ferguson accepts that manager Derek McInnes will have an influence over recruitment but believes the current squad has left the Rangers boss with a difficult balancing act.
The former midfielder also highlighted the lack of experience available to McInnes when matches become difficult, particularly with Rangers attempting to compete for major honours.
“That's where I think it's quite difficult for Derek, with the recruitment that's been given to him,” he explained.
“He'll have a say in it, of course he will. We know that. We just wonder why we're not probably getting the players that we want, or probably he wants.
“And I look at it, because I generally look at the age of them. They're all good players, but they're all young boys.
“It's a difficult one. There's a balance in that, isn't there?”
Ferguson insists Rangers are not a 'project' club
The age profile of the squad was also raised during the discussion, with Ferguson agreeing that Rangers have become a significantly younger side compared with previous seasons.
But he believes youth without sufficient experience can become a problem when the pressure increases.
“We're young but inexperienced as well,” he said.
“Listen, you always need that experience in the dressing room. When times are a bit hard, they're not going for you. That's where you look to your experienced boys.
“The young boys, it's peaks and troughs, you know.
“So, we're just hoping that these young guys that we have got are going to be good enough to see us win this league.
“If they do look at it that way, that's not good enough for us, because we need genuine, quality players, experienced boys, ready to do the business right from the off.
“Listen, we'll see how things pan out. But we're not a project. We're Rangers Football Club.”
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