BARRY FERGUSON has blasted UEFA for the 'laughable' ten game ban handed to Ondrej Kudela and insisted the governing body should have made 'a statement' with a lengthy suspension.

Rangers midfielder Glen Kamara accused Kudela of calling him a 'f****** monkey' during the Europa League clash with Slavia Prague last month.

The Czech was this week convicted by a UEFA disciplinary panel but the ten match ban given to him has been widely criticised within football.

The National: Rangers midfielder Glen Kamara reacts angrily to Ondrej Kudela

And Ibrox legend Ferguson believes the punishment doesn't fit the crime after Kudela avoided a significant suspension from the game.

Ferguson said: “Ten games, for me it’s laughable. I’ll be honest with you, I think they had to make a statement here and I think they should have banned him for 12 months.

“Make a statement. Let people know this is not acceptable.

“So, when I heard the ban come through and it was 10 games, it’s a joke, that’s all I can say.

"It just makes me sick, I was expecting a far more severe punishment.

“Make a point, make a statement and ban the player. It’s clear what happened in the game, it was sickening, a disgrace.

“You’ve got to come down on a player tougher than that when they’re found guilty. Some people might call it too severe, but I’m talking 12 months.

“Go and make a statement: ‘This ain’t right what’s happening’.”

The football world would rally round Kamara in the aftermath of the sickening incident in the closing stages of Rangers' 2-0 defeat during the last 16 clash.

The Finnish internationalist has himself been given a three-game ban following an alleged altercation in the tunnel that is now being probed by Police Scotland.

Ferguson told The Go Radio Football Show: “I can imagine how Glen Kamara was feeling after being racially abused on the pitch.

“I know what I would do if it happened to one of my team-mates. I would be going absolutely crazy in that tunnel.

“I’m not saying it’s the right way to react but sometimes it gets a bit too much.

“Put yourself in Glen Kamara’s shoes. I know how I would feel and it’s a tough one for him.

The National: Rangers manager Steven Gerrard with Glen Kamara

"I’m not condoning the reaction. We never saw what happened in the tunnel, but I can imagine. Maybe it came to boiling point and he felt that was the way he had to react.

“If you asked him now, he might say, ‘I wish I went straight to the dressing room’.

“But I can totally understand. I was angry watching the game when I saw it. So, I can imagine how he felt and how his team-mates felt.”