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?

Read more: Derek Ferguson: Rangers are an average and weak team - but don't blame the players for that

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.

Read more: Derek Ferguson: Rangers are an average and weak team - but don't blame the players for that

“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."

Ferguson would like to see some Rangers men return to the club. Not necessarily as the manager but to give the players a reminder of what is expected of them.

And there is one ex-player who this former midfielder would like to see being given the job full-time.

“Aberdeen are nine points ahead in second right now,” said Ferguson. “Fair play to Derek McInnes and his squad of players. They have got the bit between their teeth.

“They have sensed a vulnerability at Rangers and they’ve grasped it. The beauty of Derek’s teams is they can play a variety of different styles within his squad. It’s good management. It’s going away from home and grinding out a result.

“He’s proved himself. He’s a good manager and a leader. He ticks all the boxes. The Aberdeen supporters like him and so do the players but you get the impression that he’s a guy you wouldn’t mess about.

“Maybe that’s what Rangers could be doing with. Of course, it would take money and we don’t know if that’s going to happen; they might go down another route.”

Ferguson is clearly frustrated at what is going on at the club he played for and his brother captained.

Read more: Derek Ferguson: Rangers are an average and weak team - but don't blame the players for that

It is, to use his word, a mess and he’s not convinced by the noises coming out of Ibrox about how things are to be sorted out.

“I’m not so sure about this director of football thing – it’s about getting in the right people,” said Ferguson. “Maybe I’m a dinosaur but I think you should appoint the right manager with good people around him.

“That’s not just players but coaches. Look at Brendan Rodgers – does he need a director of football? Does Derek McInnes? They’re first and second in the league.

“It seems to be the in thing and it works for certain clubs but I’m not sure it would work for Rangers.

“But they should have brought somebody in as temporary manager just to steady the ship, nail down second place and maybe give them an outside chance of winning the Scottish Cup.”

Derek Ferguson was speaking at a William Hill Scottish Cup media event