Barry Ferguson insists Connor Goldson did no wrong in his latest Rangers handball incident - as he compared the squad depth of his beloved club and Celtic.
The Hoops remain nine points clear at the top of the Premiership table after Glasgow's big two beat Kilmarnock and Dundee United respectively by 2-0 margins across Saturday and Sunday. Goldson's outstretched arm collided with the ball in last week's 2-2 draw with the Hoops at Ibrox and it sparked debate over whether or not a penalty should have been given against him.
So when the ball hit him at close range off the back of a United set-piece at Tannadice, any quelled penalty box chat immediately sparked up again. Speaking on Go Radio, former Rangers captain and Record Sport columnist Ferguson absolves him of any Tannadice wrongdoing, but that doesn't put him in the clear when it comes to the derby day incident.
He explained: "Last week I thought it was a penalty, but that wasn't a penalty yesterday. I'm not just saying that before people start saying 'you've got your blue tinted specs on blah blah blah,' that wasn't a penalty."
What Ferguson did notice from the game away at Dundee United was Rangers' squad depth. While he was pleased to see youngsters like Adam Devine on the bench, Celtic being able to field the likes of Georgios Giakoumakis and Liel Abada proves the work needed done by new boss Michael Beale.
Ferguson added: "Celtic have real competition for places and I think that is where Michael Beale wants to get to. Where the pressure is on you to perform.
"If you don't perform, you know somebody is ready to jump into your shirt. If you want to win things, that is what you need in your squad.
"If you want to be a very good team, then it needs to be done over a period of time, a level of consistency over 15, 20, 25 games. There's still room to improve but you can see signs of the way he wants to play the game and I really enjoyed the second half at Tannadice."
