FORMER Celtic striker John Hartson didn’t miss the target when insisting Rangers are so badly broken that not even Jose Mourinho could fix them.

Hartson also hit-out at those members of the Ibrox inner-sanctum who rubber-stamped the successive appointments of Mark Warburton and Pedro Caixinha, claiming they should take the flak for the club’s off-field Premiership problems.

The Welshman also admitted to being surprised that the red carpet was rolled-out for McInnes after he had openly discussed his future with two other clubs.

But he doubted whether McInnes could have given Rangers the boost they need because too many of their players were sub-standard.

He said: "Jose Mourinho would struggle to do something special with Rangers. I don't think they are a fantastic set of players and I think Caixinha wasted a lot of money on a lot of duds.

"It's going to take someone more than Derek McInnes to go in there.

"They need a sort of transition as they need better players, they need a board that trusts the right person to bring in the right manager.

"Whoever appointed Caixinha and Warburton are the people who should be held accountable, not the players.

“The players just go out and try to do their best. But if Rangers are just going to keep appointing managers who are nowhere near good enough or stable enough to manage that massive club, then why aren't the people making those decisions being made accountable for their mistakes.

"It's easy to blame the manager and point the finger at the players but it is the decision-makers who are at fault.

"Someone is sitting nice and pretty behind it all watching the storm build up and these are the ones that are responsible.

"The people that are making the big decision but we never seem to see them, do we?

Hartson took the view that McInnes manager was lucky to have a chairman like Stewart Milne who twice allowed his manager to talk to clubs – Sunderland and Rangers – with a view to joining them.

“Derek’s very fortunate that he's able to go back to Aberdeen after talking to other clubs about taking a job,” he said.

"At loads of other clubs if you go out the door to do that they might not welcome you back the way Aberdeen have welcomed Derek back.

"That's twice now Derek has gone to speak to other clubs, so what does that tell you?

“Does he want to stay at Aberdeen or does he want to leave Aberdeen? I thought he was very fortunate to stay after going to speak to Sunderland in the summer.

“He wasn't happy with what Sunderland were going to offer him and he was fortunate Aberdeen kept the door open for him.

"He is also very fortunate to have a fantastic owner, backer and supporter of his at Aberdeen because they could have lost their manager last week as Derek spoke to Rangers then decided he wanted to go back to Aberdeen.

"He's in a privileged position to have such a fantastic chairman and a group of supporters who are willing to welcome him back with open arms."

John Hartson was at CLAN Cancer Centre in Aberdeen to donate a cheque for £20,000 from his own foundation which has now raised £750,000 over seven years.