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Since returning to the top flight of Scottish football following their four-year hiatus, Rangers have struggled to put a stretch of victories together, finishing a distant third behind Celtic and Aberdeen last season and currently on course for a fourth place finish this time around.

In order to get the club challenging Celtic at the top of the Ladbrokes Premiership table, Rae believes they need a manager who commands respect and understands the culture of the club.

Former Rangers midfielder Alex Rae. Picture: SNS

Rae told the Daily Record’s Rangers podcast: “We won an Old Firm game 2-0 at Ibrox and I was waiting to shake Neil Lennon’s hand when Martin O’Neill grabbed him and took him to the Broomloan Stand to greet the Celtic supporters.

“So I thought ‘hold up, I shook their hand when we got beat at Parkhead so I’m going to wait for the both of them’.

“So I shook their hands and then looked up to a fellah I know in the main stand – a big Rangers man from the East End – and I went ‘ya effin beauty’.

“Big Alex was also waiting at the end of the tunnel to shake hands with Martin and saw this.

“So later he came into the dressing room, gave me a big bear hug and said ‘don’t let me see you do that again. We win and lose with dignity. This is Glasgow Rangers.’

“Now I was 35 at the time but I was like a wee boy going ‘aye, you’re right gaffer’. But it was a brilliant thing to say. It’s about how you carry yourself and how you behave. It’s Rangers that you’re representing.”

Rae believes the previous two managers have failed to grasp the pressures associated with being in charge of the Rangers first-team and lacked the belief required.

He continued: “You look at Mark Warburton when he came in, if they got a draw he would speak positively about how they dominated the game.

“He couldn’t quite grasp the fact that a draw wasn’t good enough – it was a rude awakening for these guys.

“When you look at Pedro Caixinha’s quotes and some of the stories coming out – it was the right decision for him to go.

“Last year the youths at Rangers got to a final and the attitude was that this group of players were over-achieving.

“I’d never heard that in all my time at Rangers, stretching right back to my days there as a kid.

“They need to get back to believing they’re the best because if you keep telling people they are second best they’ll believe it.”

Alex Rae: Rangers have always won and lost with dignity