WALTER SMITH is a dud who doesn't know what he is doing. Barry Ferguson is finished and should be stripped of the captaincy and banished from the first team.

Pedro Mendes isn't as good as he has been made out and it's time for Davie Weir to be put out to pasture.

Just some of the conclusions be to drawn, from supporters and media alike, on the back of Rangers' extra-time defeat to Celtic in the Co-operative Insurance League Cup Final at Hampden Park on Sunday.

Welcome to the madness that now descends on either half of the Old Firm whenever they fail to emerge victorious.

Rewind, if you will, to a week past on Saturday when Celtic were knocked out of the Scottish Cup by St Mirren at their newly-built stadium in Paisley.

Gordon Strachan would have been slaughtered by a large majority of the away supporters as they made their way home from the match after a shock 1-0 defeat.

Their captain, Stephen McManus, would have been getting it in the neck for giving away the penalty that led to the goal. And other players wouldn't have been exempt from criticism on the back of that defeat.

Fast forward again to this weekend. Let's say Rangers manage to defeat Hearts at Ibrox on Saturday afternoon and just 24 hours later, Celtic either draw with Dundee United at Tannadice or, indeed, lose the match. It's perfectly conceivable.

Can you imagine the contrasting reactions?

A week after winning the season's first piece of silverware, Strachan and his players would once again come under the cosh and find themselves being chastised.

Smith, on the other hand, would once more be that wise old owl who is the man to mastermind Rangers' return to the top, Ferguson, depending on which title you read, will be back to his best and the others will all be excellent too.

Yes, if this season is the one when you can never back on either half of the Old Firm winning games they would have done in the past, then it's also the one for the knee-jerk reactions.

Smith was cautious once again at the weekend. And his decision to bring on Christian Dailly was questionable to say the least. Ferguson was well off the pace, but so too were Mendes and Steven Davis, who never seem to merit the same level of criticism.

Although Celtic eventually won the game in extra-time - and despite many suggesting the match was an even encounter up until Darren O'Dea netted the opening goal Gordon Strachan's side deserved - they should have had it settled within the 90 minutes.

The manager's gamble to tinker with his formation paid off. Will he now deploy the same line-up at Tannadice or will he revert to his tried and tested 4-4-2?

Will Smith, on the back of a disappointing display, loosen the shackles off his team and send out a more attacking side against Hearts?

It's impossible to predict the unpredictable. The only thing you can certain of that managers and players will go from heroes to villains and back if the see-saw title race continues.