Derek Ferguson reckons the current Rangers squad is NOT good enough to be at Champions League level and boss Giovanni van Bronckhorst is under pressure.
The Light Blues navigated two rounds of qualifying against Union Saint-Gilloise and PSV to earn a crack at Europe's premier competition but they've lost seven goals in the first two games and not scored yet. An opening night defeat to Ajax in Amsterdam by four goals was followed up this midweek with a 3-0 loss at home to Napoli.
Rangers competed well under the lights at Ibrox - a huge difference to the games with Celtic and Ajax before - with James Sands' sending off a major telling point as the game swung in the favour of the Serie A league leaders. Things don't get any easier with a double-header Battle of Britain with Liverpool in the next two outings.
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Van Bronckhorst has come in for criticism in recent weeks with the recruitment at Ibrox this summer questioned on more than one occasion. Ferguson can't understand why they did not dip back into the transfer market after qualification to Europe's top table while he insists the Dutchman is under pressure following recent results.
He told Open Goal: "Would you be happy with two 4-0 and a 3-0 defeat in your last three games? As a Rangers manager or even a Celtic manager, of course you're under pressure because you're expected to win games.
"You're excepted to be competitive. He's got to do better, and this is why a couple of weeks ago when he [Van Bronckhorst] said he was happy with his squad, we were all scratching our heads.
"We thought 'no, you can always improve, you always look to improve', and I cannot understand why they didn't go into the market. I don't know whether it's if the board are holding them back in terms of giving them the financial clout behind them, but they should have. The squad is not good enough to be at the Champions League level at the minute."
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