FORMER Rangers midfieleder Alex Rae believes that the suspensions of Kenny Miller and Lee Wallace are evidence of a lack of leadership 'from the top down' at Ibrox.

The pair were disciplined yesterday in the wake of a row with manager Graeme Murty following Sunday's 4-0 Scottish Cup semi-final loss to Celtic.

Rae, who spent two seasons with thee Light Blues between 2004 and 2006, believes the ongoing investigation points to problems throughout the club structure. 

Read more: Chris Jack: The writing is on the wall at Rangers when there are issues behind closed doors

"You get that kind of thing when things are not going too well," he told thee BBC.

"You don't hear much coming out of the Celtic dressing room.

"It gives an indication of where Rangers are at the moment. They lack leadership from the top down."

Former Under-20s boss Murty was handed the first team reins until the end of the season in December but his future in the role remains up in the air. 

Rae believes the 43-year-old's lack of experience may have contributed to an ill-disciplined afternoon for the Gers, in which Andy Halliday and Daniel Candeias reacted furiously to being substituted and teammates Alfredo Morelos and Greg Docherty had angry exchanges at full-time. 

"If you had someone in there like Graeme Souness, Walter Smith or Alex McLeish, I'm not sure you'd have had the reaction of the players, particularly on the bench," said Rae.

Read more: Chris Jack: The writing is on the wall at Rangers when there are issues behind closed doors

"There's always been words within the dressing room but I'm not sure one of those guys would have suspended people on the back of words being shared.

"I've been in dressing rooms when people have been in other people's faces, when fights have broken out.

"When I was a younger player, no one had the bottle to speak up against the gaffer. I think, more recently, managers have been more open minded and there's more of a talking culture.

"Part of the problem is with the manager coming out after the game and basically saying 'we'll deal with it in a couple of days', a lot of players may have felt that it needed to be dealt with there and then."