Joey Barton has told Rangers that they can still recover from the “worst result in British footballing history in Europe”, and that the defeat to Progres Neiderkorn will be forgotten if they can win the Premiership title ahead of Celtic.

Former Ibrox midfielder Barton, who’s own short stay at the club last season ended after a dressing room bust up with then manager Mark Warburton and his teammates, has backed his old team to get back on track.

And he feels that the early European exit could even be a good thing for their domestic hopes in the long run, as they can now focus on their attempts to overhaul Celtic and Aberdeen.

Speaking to talkSPORT, Barton said: “You can understand the frustration of the Rangers fans. They have been to the depths of Scottish football and they are on the way back up. They are climbing back up that mountain and along the way there is going to be setbacks. It is not always going to go in a kind of fairytale way.

“The result last night does slightly change the trajectory of Rangers, certainly in respects of catching back up with Celtic and maybe overthrowing them. You can’t get away from it, it is a terrible result. It is arguably the worst result in British footballing history in Europe. But it shouldn’t change the direction of the football club.

“The football club should still be aiming to get back where it once was and that is at the pinnacle of Scottish football and dominating Scottish football. That is where it needs to aim it.

“The reality of it is Rangers were never going to win the Europa League. If Rangers are going to get closer to Celtic and Aberdeen this year, then they don’t really need to be in the Europa League on a Thursday night.

“If Rangers finish above Celtic this season, no one will care about what happened in the Europa League.”