Steven Naismith insists self-interest from so-called 'Rangers men' in the boardroom is to blame for leaving a mess for the new Ibrox owners to mop up.

The former Light Blues ace slammed club chiefs for the current state of the club – with the new American backers facing a mountain to climb to reel in rivals Celtic. Record Sport revealed the San Francisco 49ers backed consortium fronted up by US businessman Andrew Cavenagh and Leeds United chief Paraag Marathe has been agreed in principle and should be forced over the line by the end of the season.

But Naismith insisted the incoming owners have their work cut out – because of the actions of the current custodians in throwing millions of pounds down the drain while being left in Celtic's wake. He said: “It's sad. It’s sad because they're so far back, they're so far behind Celtic, in terms of recruitment, the style and the quality of the squad to the trophies they've won.

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“It’s a combination of years of making terrible decisions on recruitment. People that are ‘Rangers men’, saying we are going to do this and that. Looking back now they're not – they’ve not done the best for the club.

“They've done the best for the club, which also suits themselves and that's been from managers to further up the food chain. That's why the club is so far back, that's why they've lost so much money over the years.

“That’s the problem, I think it needs to have the real people that want the best for the club and not their self-interest. The proof is in the pudding. The squad's not where it needs to be, the recruitment's not where it needs to be. Unfortunately they're a bit away from their biggest rivals.”

Naismith insisted the takeover HAS to go through – to allow Rangers to hit the reset button. But he warned it will take more than just a cash injection to repair the damage done in recent years.

Naismith won six major honours in his five years at Ibrox before departing in the wake of the financial meltdown in 2012. And he is convinced the incoming investors will need to spend their cash wisely if they are to restore the club to winning ways.

Naismith said: “For me it (the takeover) is the only short-term way of narrowing the gap massively. That new investment's brilliant, but when Rangers became debt free and had big investment, £70million gets spent and this is where they're at.

“It's brilliant that this is happening, but it's so important the next decisions are good ones, because if they're not you're going to be in the same position five years down the line. It's not just cash, it's what you do with it. It's the right people, but you must add to that that I don't think there's ever been a time in football that time's so valuable, but it's never given.

"So there has got to be that element. If you look at Bournemouth at the start of last season, or when they replaced their manager, and he doesn't win for nine games, he's rubbish. It shows a real quality of leadership that they stuck with him and look at them now, they're flying.

“Hibs to a point as well, you've got to have the right people managing and guiding the club, and that's what I go back to. In the past has that been the right case? Probably not.”

Record Sport revealed last month a US investment group – with the backing of NFL giants San Francisco 49ers – were closing in on a deal to take charge of Rangers.

And we confirmed over the weekend the deal was close to being concluded with final formalities being concluded.

The American consortium has agreed in principle to take a 51 percent stake of the club but snapping up shares from major investors such as Dave King, Douglas Park, Graham Taylor, Stuart Gibson, Julian Wolhardt, John Halsted and John Bennett .

Leeds supremo Marathe is understood to be driving the deal, with the US chief the investment guru and right hand man of 49ers owner Jed York – who has an estimated worth of up to $6billion.

Steven Naismith was promoting Premier Sports’ live and exclusive coverage of Hearts v Dundee on Friday from 7.15pm on Premier Sports 1. Watch Premier Sports via your TV provider on Sky, Virgin TV, STV Player and Amazon Prime as an add-on subscription, and on the Premier Sports’ streaming platform.