Ferguson urges summer splash

Rangers skipper Barry Ferguson has urged the club to splash the cash in the summer market.

The midfielder declared: "We have progressed but we need two, three, maybe four players. I was told we would be getting players - I was promised by the chairman, manager and Martin Bain.

"Another point the gaffer made was that he wanted to bring in players at 24, 25, 26 and 27 - a good age, where their best years are ahead of them.

"Then we've got Fernando Ricksen at 28.We have a lot of players at a good age who can go on making us strong for four or five years.

"When you look at what Martin O'Neill did when he came in at Celtic, he signed a good few players and spent a lot of money. But he's hardly had to make any changes and his starting 11 has been almost the same for two or three years.

"You can go through them all - Sutton, Thompson, Lennon, Balde, Varga, Hartson - they've all been about for years and they have been rock solid.

"I think we have come on from last season. I think Celtic won the league by 18 points last year but this time it has been a lot closer. We have been at the top ourselves but we have not managed to hold on, which is disappointing. If you look over the course of the season, we have dropped a lot of points - seven against Dundee United and four against Inverness.

"Those are games we should be winning but we have to give credit to those teams for coming to Ibrox and having a go.

"That's one of the differences I've seen since coming back. At least teams are coming and giving you a game at Ibrox and it's the same at Parkhead, where they've had a few dodgy results.

"Guys such as Craig Brewster are doing a great job. They are playing attacking football and that's what you want to see. You don't want to see teams coming and sitting with 10 men behind the ball.

"Sometimes it is easy to criticise but we have come on leaps and bounds from last season."