My Rangers warning was proved right but 2 leaders stood up against Livingston and trick is to sicken Aberdeen - Barry Ferguson

This isn’t a case of me saying, ‘I told you so!’. But, even so, I did warn Rangers and their fans not to get too carried away on the back of a strong second half against Real Betis the other week. In this column I wrote about the importance of Michael Beale and his players reconnecting with the support which they probably did for the first time this season in that Europa League opener against the Spaniards.

But I stressed that they had to build on that by performing with the same purpose and energy when Motherwell turned up at Ibrox on Sunday. If they could do that, then they would take the fans with them. Let’s just say they decided to go a very different way. I watched that game down in Manchester while visiting my son and I could hardly believe what I was seeing. I was actually taken aback by how poor they were.

Wasteful, pedestrian, sluggish - everything that the fans won’t tolerate from a team in blue shirts. And, even though they hung on for a 1-0 win, they were booed off their own pitch again, having tested the patience of the very people they should have been absolutely desperate to keep onside. Let me put it simply, if you keep poking a bear with a stick then eventually you’re going to get mauled. And that’s exactly what they got as they walked off the pitch.

So I was very interested to see how they would react when Livingston came to town on Wednesday night and, to their credit, they certainly responded in a much more positive manner. Right from the first whistle they were popping the ball around, taking one or two touches maximum. The passing was faster, much more purposeful and it set the tone for the rest of the night. Again, this comes with a warning. Rangers are still far from the finished article and the