THE Paul Le Guen situation came to a head because, for the first time in decades, Rangers were starting to wash their dirty laundry in pubic.

Le Guen arrived with a big reputation but look how quickly it spiraled out of control for him. Players weren't happy with his training schedule, his methods, and the way he left one or two players out of the team. But it was the results which hanged him.

Even if the players looked at his methods and thought "this is rubbish" they would have gone with him if he was getting results on the pitch. He wasn't.

Sir David Murray will think to himself "well, I got that one wrong". He has to take a bit of the blame. He can't say "nothing to do with me" because he chose Le Guen. But most of it was down to Le Guen himself.

People might say the chairman did not give him a lot to spend but I don't think in the SPL you need to spend big to do better than he did. He took Rangers backwards.

You wouldn't say Alex McLeish had a great budget to work with either and he did quite well, at least until the last season. Look at what Le Guen did, he reverted back to a lot of McLeish's team rather than sticking with his own signings. It turned into a disaster, a shambles.

I wouldn't have a huge go at Le Guen, but I wasn't sure he wanted to change and adapt to the Scottish lifestyle. I don't think he ever changed. He was set in his ways, that's his style.

But when it came down to backing his manager or his captain the chairman's decision was understandable. Imagine if he had let Barry Ferguson go and kept Le Guen in charge, and things had continued the way they have been all season.

Rangers would have lost their best player and still had an unconvincing manager in charge.

No-one is bigger than the club, including Barry. But for the first time it was a bigger gamble to keep the manager rather than the player.

Is he a good captain? I think so. Me and Barry used to argue like cat and dog sometimes during games or in training.

We nearly came to blows once at St Mirren. We were 1-0 up at half time and I hadn't given him the ball one time. I told him "I can't give it to you all the time" and it grew from there and we were shouting at each other. We nearly came to blows in the dressing room.

But in the second half I scored to make it 2-0 and Fergie was the first player to congratulate me. It was about respect and we had that for each other. We were both winners.

The older he is, the better he is as a captain. Me and Barry used to love playing together because I would show for him, and that's what he wants a team-mate to do. He shows his frustration, throwing his hands up if players aren't showing for him to make a pass. I used to show for him and he loved it. It suited him.

I used to say to him you can't be the player who makes the passes all the time. There is a time when you have to gee up and lift your team-mates and drive them on.

But I think he's the only captain on Rangers' books. Who else could you give the captaincy to? Yes there are weaknesses in his captaincy but he knows that and is probably working on it.

But Rangers have to look at it this way: Walter Smith is the obvious manager, Barry is the obvious captain. Get them in there.

I don't agree that major surgery is needed in this transfer window. What Rangers actually need now is a bit of stability until the end of the season, do the best they can and start afresh for the new campaign.

You don't rush in now, sign five players and think everything will be rosy again. You have a look at the problems, get bedded in and then gradually move on the players you don't want and bring some others in. They need to stabilise.

Rangers would never be daft enough to go for another foreigner now. They have gone down that line. They need another Scottish guy who knows the game.

Walter and Ally McCoist are obvious. Coisty is learning the game all the time and needs someone experienced behind him, someone a bit older and wiser to work with. That would be the ideal partnership for me. Walter sorted out Scotland after Berti Vogts and now him and McCoist can do the same for Rangers.

Walter knows the Scottish scene, knows the European scene, knows the players, knows how Scottish football works and would have McCoist for the motivational side of things. That is ideal.

Rangers is a huge job which consumes a manager 24/7. Big pressure. You would have wondered whether Walter wanted to subject himself to all that again. But he's a Rangers man.

It's all about the lure of Rangers.