Kris Boyd hands 49ers their first Rangers task as he urges club to copy Celtic amid 'embarrassing' reality

Kris Boyd reckons thr 49ers must start with putting a structure for the short, medium and long term at Rangers - with Celtic needing copied.

The Light Blues may have held the Hoops 1-1 at Ibrox on Sunday in the Premiership but it was a game that meant little with the away side at Ibrox already crowned champions. It’s been a poor domestic season for Rangers and while they did progress to the last eight of the Europa League, will end this campaign without any silverware.

For ex striker Boyd, Celtic have a clear structure in place for success, something Rangers do not. His former side are in the midst of takeover talks by 49ers Enterprises and the US-based investors have been told that Rangers need to look to Parkhead for an idea of what their infrastructure should look like. He also feels continually championing their European success in the face of domestic woe should leave some red faced.

Kris Boyd on Rangers recruitment

He told Sky Sports: “It's a big problem for Rangers because a new manager's come in and they're given the keys to the castle to go and sign their type of players. All of a sudden, a year or 18 months later, he's out the door, these players are still there. That's going to be the challenge for Rangers going forward as well because all this group of players are still under contract. To point back to that, Rangers need to put a structure in place. You look at Celtic, Brendan Rodgers, potentially, we don't know for definite, moved on the last time and went to Leicester because he wanted to bring in players, he wanted to strengthen the group.

“He felt as if he'd take it as far as he could but Celtic weren't weren't budging from their model. Rangers have just allowed whoever's come in, there you go and spend the money, go and do it. Rangers have spent money. But as I said, for me, there needs to be a proper structure put in place that whenever a manager comes in, it's irrelevant.

“They come in, they coach the players, they train the players, they do their thing. But the club has got a structure in place that allows it to flourish. You can't keep the turnover players, churning out players after player after player.

“There needs to be a structure put in place here that not only short-term, middle-term and long-term, that this club can flourish again. Because right now, as I said, going into the latter stage of Europe and singing, we're still in Europe and everything, it's embarrassing really. You've got to start winning domestically.”

Rangers players letting themselves down

Former Scotland forward James McFadden reckons previous Rangers gaffer Steven Gerrard spotted some of the structural issues at Ibrox. He added: “I think it was something he noticed early that had to change. But at that point, it was Rangers were so far behind that he had to start and build the foundations. He signed a lot of players, found out quick enough that a lot of them weren't good enough and had to change a few players and continue to try and build.

“So the foundations then come in on the demands, the standards in the training ground, what's expected to be a Rangers player. Over the years, I'm not saying that every manager since hasn't tried to keep that, but over the years it's disappeared from the players. You can look at players and say they've let the manager down, which on occasion they have. But as a player, the first person you let down is yourself.”