Rangers

Alasdair Lamont
BBC Sport Scotland Commentator

if Russell Martin is to keep his job as Rangers head coach, he must buck a trend that goes back as far as I can remember.

Never, in my recollection, has a manager been given the time to win over a group of supporters so vociferously opposed to him being kept on. Certainly not at Rangers.

Martin was behind the eight ball from the outset, with a large proportion of fans against or at best unconvinced by his appointment after a disastrous Premier League campaign with Southampton.

Sceptics willing to give him a chance in the role have not taken long to join the baying hordes looking for the Rangers board to cut their losses already and it appears Martin has precious few backers remaining among the club's supporters.

Philippe Clement, his predecessor as permanent Rangers boss, was given longer than others after the fanbase had turned against him as the board desperately tried to avoid yet another cycle of sacking and hiring a manager with all of the cost and upheaval that comes with that, but ultimately results and fan pressure took their toll.

Martin is convinced he retains the backing of chief executive Patrick Stewart and sporting director Kevin Thelwell, but if defeat in Sunday's Old Firm game ends with Rangers nine points behind Celtic after four games the pressure will mount on the board even further.

It has been a period of significant upheaval at Ibrox, with new owners as well as the almost simultaneous appointments of Martin, Thelwell and technical director Dan Purdy.

Back at the end of last season I asked the question of how there could be a coherent transfer strategy with most of, if not all, the significant decision-makers in terms of recruitment arriving with little time to plan.

Now Rangers find themselves a few days away from the end of the transfer window with a squad that looks nowhere near ready to challenge for trophies or emulate some of the recent European achievements.

Key players want to leave, key positions have been filled by players who look like downgrades on those already there.

Sunday looms large on the horizon, with scope for things to get even worse unless Martin and his players can somehow produce a performance and result to assuage the damage that has been incurred.

Image source, SNS

The Rangers Supporters Association has called for the "immediate" sacking of Russell Martin just 10 games into his tenure.

It comes after 10-man Rangers lost 6-0 away to Club Brugge on Wednesday night to complete a 9-1 aggregate defeat in the Champions League play-off.

Former Ibrox defender Martin, 39, has won only three games so far and Rangers remain without victory in the Scottish Premiership after opening with three draws.

The Rangers Supporters Association, which represents independent Rangers fan groups worldwide, said in a statement on X:, external "It is our considered view that the current head coach should be relieved of his duties with immediate effect.

"The Rangers Supporters Association will always stand behind the team, but we also have a duty to speak up."

Image source, SNS

Former Rangers striker Ally McCoist on TNT Sports

That was unacceptable. I wasn't confident Rangers could get a result. Rangers supporters deserve a lot better than the level of commitment, organisation and willingness to defend they saw.

On Rangers' recruitment: Physically, because they're small, they look like wee boys. They're clearly not wee boys, and they won't thank me for saying that, they'll hate me saying it, but they look like wee boys.

There's no men, you need men. And your men don't need to be 6ft 5in, 6ft 6in. They just need to have heart, head and a bit of organisation and desire. That's what men do and they're short of that in this department.

Are they as talented as the team they had last year? I don't think so. They've gone back the way.

Former Rangers striker Billy Dodds on BBC Sportsound

It was embarrassing in every aspect. I was losing the will to find words at the end. The philosophy of the high line is killing Rangers just now. They don't look comfortable in it and it's not working.

I don't think the signings have made the team better. I can't see one that's an upgrade from what they had.

Former Rangers defender Alan Hutton on TNT Sports

Cross balls and set-plays were a nightmare for Rangers. There are so many question marks after that performance. You feel for Jack Butland because the score could have been worse [without him].

Mark Atkinson, sports editor of The Scotsman, on BBC's Scottish football podcast

The new owners, there's culpability there too because of the level of player that's been brought in by Russell Martin and sporting director Kevin Thelwell, with 49ers Enterprises turning to players they've seen before such as Joe Rothwell.

Right now those players look ill-equipped to play for Rangers on a technical and mental level. It just feels like they are completely out of their depth.

They're signing players who are coming to Rangers to learn how to play football in terms of Mikey Moore and Jayden Meghoma. You don't come to learn to play football at Rangers, you come to succeed.

Tom English
BBC Scotland's chief sports writer

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Inside the Glasgow goldfish bowl it can look like Russell Martin is doomed. Every Rangers fan is screaming blue murder. They're calling for him to be sacked, in terms that offer no ambiguity.

There is a venom and a toxicity. How can he hope to survive this and this and this?

The reality is that even though there are no discernible improvements in Rangers under Martin - not even scraps - he will get more opportunity to rebuild the team.

Chairman Andrew Cavenagh and vice-chairman Paraag Marathe don't strike you as having itchy trigger fingers. Not yet at any rate.

They cannot be deaf to the howls of protest - if they attend the Old Firm game on Sunday they'll be told all about it - but there's little evidence to suggest they will be influenced by supporters who are ready to spontaneously combust.

So you have a board who will wait, a support who see no point in waiting, and a manager who is attempting to sound like he's got this under control when all evidence screams otherwise. A heady brew.

This is Martin's team and Martin's mess. Not only is it not working, it's getting worse. No amount of fast-talking can disguise that, no attempt at a three-card trick is going to fool a single fan at this point.

Nasser Djiga was among the culpable for the first Brugge goal - a Martin signing. Max Aarons got himself sent off inside eight minutes - another Martin signing.

Every one of his new recruits were dismantled. At the break, he took off three of them - 5-0 to Brugge at that stage - and replaced them with three players he inherited.

Read more: 'Martin's mess exposed - but when will it end?'

We asked for your views after Rangers suffered a 6-0 defeat at Club Brugge - equalling the club's heaviest European loss - to crash out of the Champions League 9-1 on aggregate.

Here are some of your comments:

Dobby: Totally embarrassed to be a Rangers supporter. After supporting this club for almost 40 years, I have never seen such a hapless team. Very poor recruitment followed by appalling strategy, total shambles of a team. With each season passes we are getting worse - the strategy of the club, the recruitment and the poor managerial choices.

Alan: Russell Martin seems to have lost the dressing room. A team is exactly that - individuals who will fight for the club and each other. Bringing in players is one thing but ensuring they gel is another. Martin is not up to the job I fear.

David: Enough is enough. Time is up for Martin. Others such as Patrick Stewart and Kevin Thelwell have to shoulder responsibility. The Brugge result and performance was inevitable. Thankfully Brugge took their foot off the gas for the majority of the second half. Spineless, gutless, leaderless. I no longer recognise my club and as a supporter for 55 years, I never thought I'd feel this way.

James: Martin's decision to leave all the experienced players on the bench shows he has not got a clue. He has to go!

Peter: Surely the new owners have to realise they got it wrong with appointing Russel Martin. His tactics and team selection will not change and there are too many young players in this team who will take this defeat sorely and might even wreck their progression. The man is ripping the heart out of Rangers and someone needs to throw in the towel. Just look at the stats for goodness sake.

Robert: Time Martin was sacked and some of his signings are questionable. None of them have European experience. They look and play like schoolboys. How long are the new owners going to accept these displays? They are an embarrassing.

Steve: Please get Barry Ferguson back as manager. We need a Rangers man back at the reins, someone who feels the pain we all feel.

Russell Martin admits he doesn't know whether midfielder Nicolas Raskin will still be a Rangers player come the end of the transfer window. (Daily Record), external

Rangers fans called for Martin to go after more dismal defending cost Rangers Champions League football. (Daily Record), external

Rangers striker Hamza Igamane is set to undergo a medical with Lille on Thursday before a proposed £10.4m move to Ligue 1. (Sky Sports), external

Read the rest of Thursday's Scottish gossip.

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Rangers captain James Tavernier admits the team "need to look at ourselves" after a 6-0 defeat against Club Brugge saw them crash out of the Champions League play-offs in humiliating fashion.

The defender failed to make Russell Martin's staring XI in Belgium but was quickly substituted on the pitch in the 12th minute following a successful diving header from the opposition and a red card for Max Aarons.

Fans have now seen the Ibrox side win just three times in 10 games this term, with the margin of defeat equaling Rangers' 6-0 loss to Real Madrid in 1963 and the 7-1 defeat to Liverpool in 2022.

"We need to look at ourselves, it's well below our standards," Tavernier told TNT Sports.

"It's obviously not good enough for what we want to do as a team and as a club. It's still early in the season. We have to stick together, it's as simple as that.

"You look at the goals we conceded, we can't concede goals like that. We have to showcase and prove to the manager and fans we belong on the pitch. We didn't do that tonight.

"We can understand how mad they would be about that performance."

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Rangers head coach Russell Martin told TNT Sports: "We start terribly. It's madness really. A tough night got even tougher. We apologise to the fans that travelled and the fans back home.

"We didn't respond well enough to an early setback. We have to show a big response on Sunday.

"There's not enough harmony or care for each other quite yet. We knew that coming in... We have to build that. That harmony has been disrupted for sure.

"It's nowhere near acceptable for this group.

"I apologise for the performance, the fans have been great. The only way we can respond is by putting in a top performance on Sunday."

Martin adds that he has no concerns about his immediate future, adding: "[The board] are amazingly, amazing supportive, they understand this might take time. We have to accept the pain and humiliation and use it as fuel."

Russell Martin's calamitous 10-man Rangers crashed out of the Champions League play-offs in humiliating fashion as a record-equalling six-goal European loss at relentless Club Brugge inflicted a 9-1 aggregate defeat.

Read the match report here.

Have your say on the match here.

Andrew Petrie
BBC Sport Scotland in Bruges

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Finland winger Oliver Antman admits he has struggled to find form since signing for Rangers amid a tumultuous start to Russell Martin's tenure.

Antman impressed on his debut in the home win over Viktoria Plzen, but has since hit a dip in the following four games, none of which Rangers have won.

As he prepares for the second leg of the Champions League play-off at Club Brugge, where Rangers trail 3-1, the 24-year-old said: "The first couple of weeks haven't been the best for me.

"I think I can do a lot better. I'm just focusing on myself and the team. I'm focusing on my own performance.

"It didn't come as a surprise that the expectations are high. We need to win every single game. A draw is a loss at this club. It was not a surprise. I'm dealing with it as well as I can."

Asked to pinpoint a reason behind the sluggish start, Antman, who signed on a four-year deal from Dutch club Go Ahead Eagles earlier this month, said: "For me, and also for the whole team, it's still quite new. Everything, new players, new coaches, new system, new everything.

"It always takes time. But in this club, you don't really get much time. You have to get results straight away. That's understandable. That's acceptable.

"It's difficult to say. It's pretty much down to the simple things. We are not creating enough and we are letting in goals too easily, and then it's difficult to win games.

"We're only going to get better. We can, every now and then, see the good things in the games. We just need to show it for every single game for 90 minutes. That's the task."

Antman is adamant Rangers' task in Belgium tonight is not a lost cause.

"There's full belief in the team that we can still go through," he said.

"It's a tough task, but I think we have the quality. Especially in the first game, the second half was really good. If we play like that for 90 minutes, then it's possible."

Rangers striker Cyriel Dessers is attracting interest from at least three European sides, including long-standing suitors AEK Athens. (Scottish Sun)

Read the rest of Wednesday's gossip.

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Russell Martin is "excited" by Rangers' Champions League rescue mission in Bruges and insists the play-off tie is "very much alive" despite his side's two-goal deficit.

Martin's side were 3-0 down to Club Brugge after 20 minutes of last week's first leg before staging a recovery of sorts after the break, pulling a goal back through Danilo.

Speaking on the eve of Wednesday's return leg, head coach Martin said: "I think we have a real chance to come here and attack it and every team will have a plan, so it'll be interesting to see what their plan is, and I'm sure it'll be to try and build on the margin that they're winning by.

"But we've been on the other end of this position already twice going into games, not quite knowing how the opposition will approach it.

"So our energy and our mentality has to really alter their plan very quickly and make their energy change. So they're a good team, we know that.

"I think they felt we were a good team in the second half and I hope we put enough good moments together in that second half to make sure that they have a little bit of fear of what's to come. And we're ready for them.

"So we're going to attack it and see where it takes us. This game is very much alive and the tie is very much alive in our eyes."

Andrew Petrie
BBC Sport Scotland in Bruges

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Rangers head coach Russell Martin has been speaking to the media before the second leg of the Champions League play-off with Club Brugge on Wednesday night.

Here are the key points from the press conference:

• On Hamza Igamane - who allegedly refused to come on against St Mirren at the weekend - Martin says the saga "will come to a close very soon" and "he won't be our player any more".

• Martin insists the issue hasn't been disruptive for him or the squad as he hasn't seen him because Igamane had a "scan yesterday and got assessed." Asked what the scan revealed, Martin said: "I expect him to pass his medical".

• However, he says there is no personal issue with Igamane and he does not blame him for the situation: "It's not the players' fault, it really isn't. It's really difficult for a young man - that doesn't speak the language - that's being told, 'Don't worry, your future's going to be elsewhere.'"

• On the slow start of three wins in his opening 10 games: "One day when we've won a lot of games and won something here at the club, maybe we can sit down and be really honest about the first couple of months and what you have to deal with."

• The head coach admits that while there are unhappy supporters, every fan he has "bumped into has been great and really understands" the situation at the club.

• Martin believes the frenzy around Rangers and the gaps between the highs and lows "has dictated probably the decision-making of the football club" and that has not helped their current situation.

Image source, PA Media

Rangers are expected to launch a bid to sign Wales defender Chris Mepham, 27, from Bournemouth. (Sun), external

Lille have re-opened talks with Rangers over forward Hamza Igamane, 22. (Foot Mercato - in French), external

The French club are expected to return with an offer for Igamane after a loan bid was turned down. (Herald - subscription required), external

Midfielder Nedim Bajrami and forward Cyriel Dessers are also linked with moves away from Rangers while the futures of Oscar Cortes, Leon King, Rabbi Matondo and Clinton Nsiala are uncertain. (Record), external

Rangers want midfielder Bailey Rice, 18, to sign a new deal before sending him out on loan. (Herald - subscription required), external

Meanwhile, Rangers will loan players to Alloa Athletic in the next week. (Glasgow Times), external

Read Tuesday's Scottish gossip