Neil McCann has revealed he had a very heated exchange with Nico Raskin when he was part of the coaching staff at Rangers - but hailed the midfielder as "brilliant".
The Belgian midfielder was left out of the Rangers squad against Celtic for the 0-0 draw at Ibrox on Sunday afternoon.
Chants for Raskin could be heard booming around the stadium as supporters backed the midfielder over his current situation at the club.
Manager Russell Martin insisted his absence was "not a personal thing" as he refused to be drawn on whether the player has played his last match for the Ibrox club.
For McCann, it would be a crying shame to see Raskin's Rangers career end having worked with the midfielder as part of Barry Ferguson's backroom staff last season.
The coach, working as a pundit on Sky Sports, revealed he had run ins with Raskin on the training pitch last season but worked through the issues.
"If he’s been disruptive in the dressing room then that’s something the players need to deal with as well," said McCann in a discussion speculating over the Raskin matter.
“His disruptive nature came from when he was challenging us on the training pitch last season. He would question you.
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“I had a very heated exchange with him regarding how he played. We wanted him to play as a left-sided eight but he kept coming in to where Connor Barron was.
"I showed him five or six examples, and he took it on board. He still had something to say like ‘well, I can come and start things’. You have to be strong with him, but you have to understand that once it seeps into him and he gets it, then he generally accepted it last year.
"And I actually thought it was brilliant. I thought he was brilliant when we were in there. And he went to one in the start for Belgium. He scored against Celtic.
"He bossed a lot of games. He was brilliant in the European games. So I would have loved Russell to sit down and say ‘you know what? Maybe I made a mistake here’.”
Before the match, McCann had said of Raskin's absence: "Has Russell got that wrong? I think he has. I would love to see Russell try and make something happen. Just maybe have a sit down with Nico.
"Nico's a Belgian internationalist. Generally someone who plays for Belgium is valued at £20million and upwards. Of course he's got to perform on here.
"But do you want him to leave maybe go on a loan, which might be an obligation - possibly at a far-reduced value of the player.
“If there was a problem I’d think maybe try to sit down with him and work it out."
