Skipper support for McLeish

Rangers captain Barry Ferguson has offered his backing to manager Alex McLeish.

Gers fans turned on McLeish after Wednesday's UEFA Champions League draw at home to Artmedia Bratislava, which saw the team booed off.

Supporters also protested outside the ground, where there were sustained calls for McLeish to be dismissed.

The reigning champions are also struggling in The SPL and currently lag nine points behind leaders Hearts.

It has prompted questions from several quarters about McLeish's future at Ibrox but Ferguson is adamant the boss has the full support of his players.

"The fans are entitled to their opinion," admitted the Gers skipper. "They pay good money to come and watch us and obviously want a winning Rangers side.

"We are as desperate as they are to achieve that. We gave a decent performance on Wednesday and certainly created enough chances to win the game.

"The manager has the full backing from us, although I didn't hear the chants after the match."

Ferguson now feels it is imperative that Rangers win away to Artmedia in their next match if they wish to progress to the knockout phase of the Champions League.

He added: "I said straight after the game in the dressing room that I want to go to Slovakia and win.

"When we play them on their own patch they will come at us, which would give us a bit of space to get behind their defence."