John Souttar sets Rangers alarm bells ringing as dressing room disagreement feared at Ibrox
John Souttar may have revealed disharmony in the Rangers dressing room amid a rough start to the season off the back of a frustrating summer, fears Derek Ferguson.
The Gers centre-back gave awkward answers in his press conference duty on 16 August in which he showed signs of discomfort in answering questions about how long the side would take to be up to speed under Philippe Clement.
And Ferguson isn't surprised to see signs of something being amiss behind the scenes when he had also detected potential issues from watching the players during a run of poor preseason results.
He exclusively told Ibrox News: "There could be, and the reason I'm saying that is because I watched all the preseason games and at times you look at the body language of the players and it didn't look too clever to me in certain games.
"So that flagged up for me. And this is an experienced player that's been around the block so there might be a little bit of a disagreement there.
"Sometimes you keep that in house and you've just got to box clever when you're speaking to the press. It just sets alarm bells ringing a little bit."
"But sometimes you just get a sense that everything ain't rosy. Just watching games and watching them out there at times, the relationships between the players, cameradery, I don't know, it's just not quite there.
"We're struggling in so many departments. It's all doom and gloom with me but it's quite scary when you look at the position that Rangers are in at the moment.
Rangers defeat at Celtic piles more pressure on at Ibrox
Ferguson was already worried about what he'd seen from the players and the manager before the campaign kicked off and the stuttering start to the season will have only added to that.
Souttar was understandably morose after the controversial exit from Champions League qualifying, but seemed to indicate a lack of belief in the current operation when quizzed on his manager's plans.
Any positivity that was subsequently built up by the 6-0 win over Ross County on 24 August and some late movement in the transfer market since then was comprehensively blown away by a dismal loss at Celtic on 1 September straight after the widow closed.
Clement had suggested it would be weeks into the season before his work-in-progress side was firing on all cylinders, and after the Parkhead defeat pointed to the first return at Ibrox in January as the time to pass real judgment.
But if there are problems behind the scenes there is still the possibility that things could get worse between now and then.
For more Rangers news, follow us on Facebook or join our brand new WhatsApp Channel for instant updates to be sent straight to your phone.