Rangers fans must buckle up and expect more "pain" before things start to improve against Celtic.
That's the opinion of Barry Ferguson, who sat through the 3-0 loss at Parkhead on Sunday and has witnessed the ongoing backlash towards manager Philippe Clement and his Rangers squad since the full-time whistle was blown by referee John Beaton.
James Tavernier was given a torrid time by Daizen Maeda throughout the 90 minutes, and it's not the first time that the Rangers defender has struggled during an Old Firm clash.
Following the match, loads of angry supporters greeted the Rangers team buses return outside Ibrox and vented their anger, with one punter captured directing numerous expletives towards Tavernier while security held the incensed Light Blues' stalwart back.
Ferguson gets why people would react to the result in such manner, even though he certainly doesn't advocate it. Rangers already trail holders Celtic by five points in the Scottish Premiership title race with four games played.
"I think there's going to be a bit of pain short-term because obviously the amount of change in terms of the players," the former Rangers captain told the Go Radio Football Show.
"They are trying to lower their wage structure, wage budget, whatever way you want to put it.
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"Look it is tough, and I can understand the frustration. It's tough.
"You seen some of the supporters yesterday after the game, I don't like to see it if I'm honest, but I get it's raw emotion. They are disappointed and expect a bit more from the team.
"When I was sitting in the stand watching it, look it was so hard, it was tough yesterday, there's no doubt about it."
"I thought Alistair Johnston and Greg Taylor had such an easy afternoon," Ferguson continued as he explained the difference between the fierce Glasgow rivals.
"I don't think they broke sweat, and what (Rabbi) Matondo and (Vaclav) Cerny have got, their biggest asset, is pace. You didn't see it.
"Take them in behind, what a defender hates doing is running back towards his goal. I never seen them, they never tested Celtic. And when you get beat - and I've suffered a big defeat against Celtic and a few other defeats - go down fighting.
"I didn't see that fight yesterday. I just felt that they felt sorry for themselves. Sometimes you get goals against you, just get up, shake yourself off and get round about your teammates and say 'right, listen, it's part and parcel of football'."
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Fed-up Ferguson wasn't done there either as he questioned why Rangers have assembled a squad possessing so few natural leaders.
"I said when we were talking about the end of the (transfer) window last week, they need a bit of experience in there," he added.
"Guys who manage on the pitch. It's so important speaking on the pitch and you need two, three, four players doing that. It's not just about the captain. I was captain of the team but I also had four or five teammates who wouldn't shut up on the pitch. I'm being serious and it's so important. You need communication, you need to sometimes give people a kick up the backside, you need to let them know 'listen we need to get our finger out here, this is not good enough'.
"I don't see enough of that. Is it the modern day game? Well I seen Callum McGregor do it and he's not a ranter or raver, but I seen him a couple of times at the start of the game because I thought Celtic didn't start the game particularly well. But they got a grip of it, so yeah Rangers need players in there to certainly help this team."
