Following on from my column last week, when I analysed the anaemic tactical formation Pedro Caixinha schemed up for his Rangers team for what became an utterly insipid semi-final defeat to Celtic, I could never have imagined that Rangers would be as bad as they were in that game. How wrong could I have been?

Caixinha had clearly looked at that game and realised that the passive tactics which had allowed Celtic so much time on the ball in midfield at Hampden had failed miserably. He decided to be far more aggressive in his approach this time around and play two strikers, to not only have a go offensively, but to stop Celtic building from the back.

He played Kenny Miller deeper to stop Scott Brown running the game like he did at Hampden, but Celtic played around this pressure, applied centrally, superbly, and used the wide men and overlapping full backs to torture Rangers in two-versus-one situations down both flanks.

Opening up, and trying to go toe to toe, was not the right thing for Caixinha to do. Celtic could have had seven or eight goals. But, really it's plain to see now that whatever formation or tactics Caixinha employs against Celtic currently, he just doesn't have the quality of player to pull it off.

Celtic are just too good and are so far ahead of their biggest rivals. A massive clear-out of the current squad is desperately needed at Ibrox, but then just who will take those players off their hands?

An on-going tale, but the biggest story this week in football was undoubtedly Joey Barton effectively being forced into an early retirement after being banned for 18 months for being in breach of FA betting rules.

In my opinion, the ban is excessive as he never actually participated in a game that he bet on his own team to lose. If you are going to ban a player for 18 months, it needs to be a case of the player in question having been involved in match fixing or directly affecting the result of a game.

In such an instance, then absolutely hit them with the strictest of sanctions. But betting on games in other leagues or countries that you have no influence on? I honestly do not see any issue with that for a responsible adult.

Barton, to my mind, is being hung out to dry. For the FA to go back to 2004 and do him is staggering. Yes, he has breached the rules.

But honestly, how many players currently playing in England have placed bets on football in the last 10 years? I would hazard a guess at hundreds, so will the FA now go after them? No chance.

The contentious bets in my opinion, looking through Barton's statement, are the ones he placed against his own team when he didn't play. These are the ones that will stick in a lot of people's throats.

I have to be honest and say I did this once in my career as a player, when I was out injured. I had found out a couple of days before a game that we were playing a weakened team in a cup tie. I thought we would lose the game with the team we were putting out, and I had a few quid on the opposition that day.

I won my bet, which was certainly a rare occurrence for me. But it didn't feel right morally to be sitting willing my team and teammates to lose for my own financial gain. It was wrong. I never did it again and it's something I regret doing, even now.

But is this match fixing or having an influence on a game? It really is neither. But to a gambler, it's using valuable, "insider" information to get one up on a bookmaker. Again, morally it is wrong, but in the grand scheme of things you are not directly affecting the result of a game – and that has to be key for me when you are throwing around 18-month bans and effectively ending someone's playing career.

I was a professional footballer for 17 years and during that time, in every dressing room I was in, there were a few guys gambling. Among players, it was rife. Whether that was putting a coupon on before a game or playing cards on the bus to away games, a great many players back then did it.

Speaking to John Rankin this week, who is in and out of dressing rooms all over Scotland in his role as PFA chairman in Scotland, it has not changed.

There needs to be an acceptance that this will never change and is engrained in our culture in this country from a young age. My own take on this thorny issue is that players should be allowed to bet in games not involving their own teams.

What is the problem with say an Ayr United player putting a bet on Barcelona v Real Madrid? It's nonsense to be able to ban a player for this. Footballers are just normal people, like anyone else.

If betting, gambling and gaming is that much of an issue for the football authorities, maybe they could take the lead and distance themselves from bookmakers and online gambling platforms. Maybe after all their current sponsorship deals expire.

What was I saying about it being "engrained in our culture in this country." Yes, at every level.