THE answer to one of Rangers’ many problems has been staring us all in the face and yet everyone has somehow missed it up until now.

Who is the man to add some much needed steel into a team which has been bullied, battered and beaten by just about every team in the Premiership.

Neil Lennon. Of course it is. Who else could get that club sorted out but the man who has probably been discussed more by the supporters over the past 17 years than anyone who actually played for their own team?

Derek Ferguson yesterday name-dropped the Hibernian manager, who was in and about Celtic Park for a bit, when asked what the team he used to play for could use. Want to know something? He was absolutely right as well. Although some context is perhaps required.

"If you've a back four that's struggling, you bring in a certain type,” said the former Rangers midfielder whose opinion is always worth listening to. “All the guys are nice neat and tidy players but you need something else, a Stuart McCall type, a Neil Lennon, some protection. And not just one - you need a couple.

"At home you're going to get a lot of the ball but when you go away teams will confront you and they've not got the players who can stand up to that. There's a soft centre about them.

"Look at the team at Inverness the other night. Emerson Hyndman and Jon Toral are good players but when they've not got the ball they struggle big time. There was guys running off them. It's not in their instinct to see that and match it because they just want to play when they've got the ball.”

Can anyone really argue with this? Well, apart from Mark Warburton who seemed blind to the fact that filling your team with exact same type of character was never going to be a recipe for success.

“They have signed the same type of player,” said Ferguson. “In the Championship you can get away with some things. It’s about levels. The signings Mark made, they are all the same. That’s okay at home but when you step up a level and go Tynecastle or Pittodrie, you need to play differently.

“You need more about you. What I mean by that is you need metal and some dig. A bit of know-how. I’m not saying they should go about kicking people. You have to be cute and I don’t think he got the right type, the right mix in."

Derek Ferguson was speaking at a William Hill Scottish Cup event