I had good chat with Philippe Clement about direction Rangers is moving in but I'm not going to lie - Barry Ferguson

I'm well aware of a certain photograph which has been doing the rounds since Rangers played in Birmingham the other night.

The picture of me speaking to Philippe Clement seems to have gone viral because I’ve had people shouting at me in the street, rolling down their car windows and asking, ‘What did you say to him?’. Well, I’m sorry to disappoint but the details of our conversation will remain between the two of us. Suffice to say we had a very good chat about Glasgow Rangers in general and the direction my old club is moving in.

Last week I wrote about looking forward to attending Saturday’s pre-season friendly against Manchester United and seeing what shape the team was in ahead of the big kick-off at Tynecastle. I must be brutally honest, it wasn’t great. And it was a similar story on Wednesday night when they lost a second game on the bounce at St Andrew’s.

So, yes, I completely understand why there is a feeling of concern among the support now that the new campaign is only a few days away. If truth be told, I’m a little bit concerned about it myself. But what I’m not about to do is press the big panic button at a time when the manager is having to make all kinds of difficult decisions.

I’m not going to lie either. Of course it’s far from ideal that there is so much uncertainty around the makeup of his squad with only one week to go until the serious stuff starts up again. It would be wrong to suggest anything else. But, as I said last week, now is not the time to rush to any conclusions. As difficult as it might be right now, the fans should reserve judgement until the transfer window shuts at the end of August and they have the full picture of what this overhaul really looks like.

Because that’s what it is. A huge