Kris Boyd has called on the Rangers playing squad to "get a grip" before they end up costing another manager his job.
A tumultuous season has led to Ally McCoist and Kenny McDowall losing their jobs at Ibrox and Boyd does not shy away from responsibility, claiming that it is ultimately the players who must shoulder the blame.
That starts now and, after last week's appointment of Stuart McCall until the end of the season, Boyd says the players should look in the mirror before allowing fingers to be pointed in the direction of any manager.
"We are now on to our third manager - it gets to the stage where you have to ask questions of the players," said the 31-year-old striker. "It doesn't matter if you were to go and bring in Jose Mourinho, he would still have the same players to deal with.
"Sometimes it can help when a new manager comes in and is looking at it from a different angle. A fresh eye. But, ultimately, it's the same players going out on the pitch and, if we're being brutally honest, it's us who need to get a grip.
"I've been at clubs where managers have been replaced - but it's easy to blame the manager. It's the players who have crossed the white line. The manager can only do so much and point you in the right direction.
"The big thing for us is that we are now on our third manager, so it can't be all the manager's fault. That's why we need to look ourselves in the mirror and ask if we've done enough. I can safely say I don't feel as if I have. And I'm willing to bet the majority, if not all, would all say the same thing.
"We have a period now where everyone on the playing staff needs to get a grip. You can blame all different aspects but it's only excuses. We haven't performed on the pitch and that's the bottom line."
Boyd, who was opening a new synthetic pitch at Doon Valley in East Ayrshire, said he was confident that McCall could have a positive impact at the club and be the right man to lead them out of the Championship and back into the Premiership.
He added: "I know Stuart from being in the Scotland set-up and he's been really positive. He's been involved in Scottish football for a while and he's a genuine guy where he calls a spade a spade and turns up to work with a smile on his face.
"He wants to improve people and we've been told that we might have thought we've been doing enough, but we've not. And in the video clips we've watched back from Saturday it's evident. It should be a given that you work and then the confidence comes.
"I know we keep saying it, but we need to get our finger out and start winning games of football. If we can start doing that from now until the end of the season, then it will give us a chance of promotion."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article