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Mon 18 December 2017 16:04, UK

Former Celtic captain Paul Lambert has blasted the decision to relegate Rangers to the Scottish Third Division in 2012 as the “worst decision” the Scottish clubs could have made.

Rangers were kicked out of the then-SPL and voted in as members of the Third Division after the club’s parent company entered liquidation in June 2012.

The Gers were forced to play their way back up through the leagues and Lambert thinks the decision hurt everyone in Scottish football.

“I think it was the worst decision to demote Rangers three leagues. It wasn’t good for the Scottish game, the Scottish league and certainly not for the national team,” Lambert told beIN Sports.

“Celtic and Rangers, in years gone by, provided a lot of players for the national team and it’s mainly Celtic now. That’s the bigger picture and people hadn’t really thought it through. Nobody thought, ‘Well how is this going to affect Scotland, the league itself, Glasgow as a city?’

“I think it was the wrong decision to put them down three leagues.”

Rangers returned to the top tier of Scottish football last season but have been a shadow of the side that were kicked out of the league five years ago.

The Gers are currently third in the Scottish Premiership – five points behind leaders Celtic – and have not won a league game against their bitter rivals since March 2012.

In the time Rangers have been out of the top tier of the Scottish game, Celtic were able to pick up four virtually unchallenged titles and are looking towards their seventh title success in a row.

Lambert joined Celtic in 1997 and went on to captain the Hoops in their 2003 UEFA Cup final defeat to Jose Mourinho’s Porto in Seville.

The former Aston Villa and Blackburn manager made 273 appearances for the Hoops before ending his playing career at Livingston.

In other Rangers news, Jim Duffy has urged the Gers to appoint this 59-year-old as soon as possible.