Alan Hutton has warned the Rangers squad that nobody will be safe from a potential Ibrox clear out.
Barry Ferguson’s side slumped to a record-breaking fifth straight home defeat on Saturday as they were flattened by Hibs.
The club’s seething caretaker manager didn’t hold back afterwards as he insisted the outfit he’d inherited from Philippe Clement looked nothing like the winning sides he once captained.
With Gers limping 13 points behind Celtic and only an unlikely Europa League bid left to play for, talk is already swirling of yet another summer clear out.
And Hutton reckons that with an American takeover on the horizon and a new boss to be appointed, alarm bells should be ringing in the Ibrox dressing room.
The former Gers defender told Record Sport: “I think everybody’s pretty much in the same boat.
“Whoever comes in, whether it be someone new or whether it’s Barry, the hierarchy will be saying, do we need a rebuild? Everybody’s playing for their future. It doesn’t matter who you are.
“Things aren’t going to turn around in the space of one transfer window. You’re going to need two or three.
“But the big thing for me going forward is recruitment. Of course, the manager, whoever it will be, is important but then the recruitment side of it has to be right too.
“If you want to bridge that gap to Celtic at this moment in time, it’s going to take a lot of hard work, a lot of ins and outs.
“It’ll be interesting to see what direction they go in, but we’re going to have to wait for the takeover to happen first. That’s the key element to all of this and then where they go from there. But I think the squad does need a lot of work.”
Hutton played alongside Ferguson for club and country and knows the interim boss better than most. And it was no surprise to see his old pal react so furiously to Saturday’s sorry show against David Gray’s men.
He said: “Barry won’t be happy, I know that for a fact. You could tell by his interview after the game that he’s not happy with the performance, of course.
“That’s five losses at home, so it’s something that has to change.
“We have seen it at times, there have been good performances – but the goals that they’re conceding aren’t ideal, especially when you’re stepping into such a big game come Thursday.
“You have to ask, are there enough guys in the squad that grasp the enormity of what is required at Rangers? That’s the problem at this moment in time, to be quite honest.
“Is there enough characters who can deal with those kinds of situations? I refer back to when I was playing, some of the boys that were there that knew what it was all about.
“They knew that you aren’t going to play well every single week, but it’s about getting the result, winning ugly at times, and I think you have to be able to do that.
“This team has shown that they can hit the standards that’s required and needed. I just think the problem for me is, can they sustain that, can they do it week after week?
“So they do have massive highs, but then they have quite dramatic lows, and it’s about getting that out of the team.
“You can’t afford to be like that, so up and down, so rollercoaster.
“That’s probably what’s frustrating Barry at this moment in time, so it’s about finding a way out of that situation they’re in at the moment.”
Gers don’t have time to feel sorry for themselves with La Liga big guns Athletic Bilbao next up in the opening leg of their Europa League quarter final clash.
Hutton added: “John Souttar will be a huge miss through suspensions, Mohamed Diomande too.
“Souttar has those leadership qualities that are so important while Diomande gives you that energy that you need on these big European nights.
“So it’s going to be hard. There’s no getting away from it. I genuinely thought that the round before against Fenerbahce might have been a step too far.
“They got through that one but there’s no doubt they’re going to have to produce their best game of the season to get past Bilbao.
“I want to go off the fence and say they can do it, but I know it’s going to be difficult.
“We’ll see how the first leg goes. But it’s not ideal, the first one being at Ibrox and then having to go away. Fingers crossed they can do it, but I fear it might just be a little step too far.”
*Alan Hutton was speaking on behalf of NewBettingOffers.co.uk
