Ferguson reveals disagreements with Rangers flop Thelwell

Thelwell came in as the club's sporting director in the midst of Ferguson's interim spell in charge of the team, and the latter wanted to stay on full-time and was involved in discussions about the direction of the club going forward.

He has since told of a Scottish core of signings he wanted the club to make, including Lawrence Shankland, who stayed at Hearts, and Josh Mulligan, who ended up moving from Dundee to Hibs.

And the former club captain has admitted recruitment was one of the main areas he and the sacked sporting director disagreed on.

Addressing the shock departure of Thelwell and ex-chief executive Patrick Stewart, Ferguson said in the Daily Record: "I actually had a good relationship with Patrick during our time together and I can’t say otherwise. If I needed anything, he was on the end of the phone or I could chap on his office door. The rest of the time, he left me to get on with it and I like to work like that.

"Kevin was different. I only had a meeting or two with him during those three months before, ultimately, he interviewed me for the job on a full time basis.

"I never spent much time with him so it’s hard for me to say what type of person he was or what he was like to work with. But, yes, it’s fair to say we had different ideas, especially when it came to recruitment.

"That’s fine. Everybody has their own ways of working. Certain people are always going to disagree with those methods."

If Ferguson had different ideas to Thelwell on recruitment, he is the one who looks vindicated after a poor summer window.

Youssef Chermiti, the £8million striker, hasn't impressed and neither have the vast majority of the signings. It was the main reason fans turned against the Englishman, and likely a factor in Andrew Cavenagh getting rid, even though he has kept his counsel on that.

Ferguson went on: "The biggest issue Kevin had in the end was that the recruitment hasn’t looked like value for money. He brought in 14 new players with a net spend of £20m and the general consensus is the team has gone back the way. That’s hardly ideal.

"Kevin’s problem was that not enough of the players he signed have succeeded in hitting the ground running and ultimately he’s paid the price for that. The spotlight was always likely to fall on his head.

"Personally, I did think money would have been better spent on other targets but, like I say, Kevin had his own idea and football is all about opinions. I felt Rangers had to go in a certain direction. Not everyone shared my opinion.

"That’s fine too. It was their job to make those decisions even though I didn’t always agree with them. That’s life. But when you make signings and oversee a full reboot of the squad, you also have to take accountability for those decisions."

Chairman Cavenagh was the man to make the call to get rid of Cavenagh and Thelwell and he flew in from the US to do so before fronting up in front of the press to explain the decision.

Ferguson has praise for the way that was handled.

He added: "If any Rangers fans out there were concerned about having American owners who are a bit detached from the reality on the ground in Glasgow, then on Monday morning Cavenagh didn’t half put them straight.

"The way Cavenagh handled it was very impressive. He could have done it from arm’s length over the end of a video call from his office in Philadelphia. That would have been the easy way.

"But the fact that he jumped on a plane to look people in the eye and hold these difficult discussions in person before stepping out in front of the cameras to take ownership of the decisions he had made?

"That tells me that he understands what the club is all about. It shows that he has learned a lot about the club during a relatively short period of time in charge.

"And it demonstrates to the fans that he cares as deeply and passionately about Rangers as they do which is why he is taking a real hands-on approach to dealing with the big issues."