Russell Martin: Running out of Road already?

The summer takeover of the club by Andrew Cavenagh & 49ers Enterprises was welcomed with open arms by a support that had become weary and long-suffering under the previous regime. It was to herald a bright new chapter with professionalism, experience & financial backing that would finally turn the ship in the right direction and back towards the shiny things we all crave. 

The first big test of the new regime & their appointed executive team was of course the their choice of manager, or should I say head coach, to galvanise an ailing squad and to do so with a style and philosophy that was to underpin any future success.

That man was Russell Martin. 

As an ex-player the reception is usually warm and welcoming but in this case it was lukewarm at best, cold and harsh at worst. Some of that was misplaced prejudice based on his time as a player and the era in which that happened but some was also genuine concern based on a review of his time and performance as a head coach. 

While Martin has gradually risen up the ranks in the English Championship, culminating in play-off promotion to the promised land of the Premier League with Southampton closely followed by a humbling departure, he was not thee standout candidate in the eyes of the support. 

Martin though represents possibly our first modern-day philosophy manager. He is not someone who comes in and makes the most of his resources by adapting and shifting to their strengths and weaknesses. He instead shapes his teams into his way of playing, his philosophy and signs players to fit that mould. Or at least that’s the theory. 

The early signs were good. He spoke of aggressive play, aggressive running and a dominant brand of football. It was like ticking the wishlist of the support who have become bored by the dreary, slow brand of football the squad had dished out under the likes of Gio & Clement.

We would be fitter, faster and play with a purpose.

Hallelujah, right? 

Well, if theory met reality then absolutely however back in the real world the talk hasn’t quite made its way onto the football pitch and seems very much trapped in the mind of the manager. His interviews were promising us lobster and caviar however the matches to date have dished up Aldi own-brand chicken nuggets. But the issue isn’t that we’re not consistently serving up Michelin star performances, it’s that we’ve seen nothing to suggest that we’ll escape the ‘reduced to clear’ section anytime soon. 

If you can forgive the sloppy metaphors we can look back on some positives such as navigating a very tricky Champions League qualifier against Panathanikos which guaranteed Europa League group stage football and which we then followed up with our best, and in truth, only, performance against Plzen at Ibrox. 

The home tie against the Czech side looked like the Eureeka moment we had been waiting for, the moment where the team had overcome the early teething problems and finally grasped the demands and ideas of the man in the dugout. But alas, this has been an isolated glimmer of light in a very dark tunnel. 

Domestically we have been a mess.

At the time of writing we have played 3 games, drawn 3 & scored only 3 goals, none of which came from open play (Curtis’s was from a corner before anyone argues!). The team have been booed off in every game, some at half-time, and the fans are stuck in a familiar Groundhog Day loop of watching substandard performances and results from a team they cannot relate to in the slightest. 

Martin spoke of aggressive play, aggressive running & dominant football. Instead we have been lethargic, predictable & easy to play against. Fans could forgive the defensive weakness if we were swashbuckling and exciting in attack, adopting the old “we’ll score more than you” mantra that would at least provide some excitement and hope to those in the stands. 

Lazy comparisons have been made to Ange Postecoglou at Celtic because he too was a philosophy manager, but that is where the similarities end. He played fast, attacking, high press football and managed to win 6-0, 6-0, 3-0 in his first five games.

At our current rate of scoring it would take us a further 12 games to score that many goals & I won’t even think about the points at present. 

If we take out what Martin is telling us – for that’s the only indication of his plan – then the style appears to be safe possession football, not attacking play. And domestically that’s just not what’s needed as demonstrated by many seasons of failure. 

If the manager is indeed asking the team to play quick & fast then they’re either ignoring his instructions or they are incapable of doing it. Critics from his previous clubs, particularly Southampton, might tell you that, no, what we’re seeing is indeed his style and his plan. And that would be very worrying indeed. 

Kevin Thelwell said on his appointment that “his teams play dominant football, they control the ball, dictate the tempo and impose themselves physically and press aggressively”. He also said that Russell’s time in the EPL sharpened his approach both tactically and personally and I think in truth that was a key factor in the decision. 

Like many I watched Russell Martin on Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football shortly after his sacking from Southampton where he spoke of the lessons he could take such as making ‘first contact’ earlier and higher up the pitch and being more physical and athletic in a league that demands it. But even as I write that I have the sudden urge to start pulling my hair out after watching Joe Rothwell shuffle around the pitch against St Mirren at the weekend. 

Put simply Martin’s Rangers do not look fitter, sharper or more aggressive than the previous versions that went before him. We play very slowly, mainly between our defence, and struggle to complete physically against domestic opponents while giving up chances all too readily. We don’t press at all despite the manager’s soundbites & the approach therefore seems nonsensical if the aim is to actually win football matches. 

Whatever blueprint Russell Martin sold to the Rangers board, to the fans it simply reads like a roadmap to nowhere. 

Martin is admittedly not helped by the support’s hangover from previous failures which has made us grumpy and short-tempered but he has also done nothing to stop that from being an issue. The football is turgid and ineffective, the results domestically have been awful & the fans have been left with no straws at which to clutch as we face up to a month of more difficult fixtures ahead including a league game against Celtic which could see us slip 9 points behind while still in August. From that I think there could be no coming back, at least in the eyes of the fans who have already started tentatively voting with their feet. 

The part that even the more patient and optimistic fans are wrestling with is that there are literally no signs – other than what the manager promises – that tells us this is going to work. We are playing the same way, making the same mistakes & are not adapting to the challenges we meet or starting to resemble the words uttered by the man in the dugout. 

We are told or have become comfortable in believing that the 49ers, Andrew Cavenagh and Paraag Marathe will not bow so readily to fan pressure or outside noise. It was arguably a failing of the previous regime at times and this more detached, non-fan ownership were to be more measured & calculated in their decisions. If they trust in the process then they will see it through, not knee-jerk into a decision & jump from one approach to another.

But my goodness this will be put to the test in the next week. 

If fans who are well versed in the history and success of Rangers cannot see any light at the end of the tunnel then it is asking a lot of the boardroom to believe otherwise. Previously boards have bought into bluffers and smooth-talkers and, in truth, beyond Martin’s chat there has been little else to get excited about in his time at Rangers. 

Have the board simply made a mistake in their first managerial hire and bought into a guy who plays a style that is incompatible with success in Scotland? Or do they believe that there is still an evolution to come under their man and that, like his previous clubs, his approach takes time to filter through onto the pitch. 

The problem we have as fans is that September is too late, nevermind October or November. A defeat next Sunday signals the end of our league campaign before we have even won a game or made it out of August and you try convincing fans that the remaining 30+ league friendlies are worth their time and money.

It would be an utter nonsense. 

It was important for Russell Martin to hit the ground running at Rangers to win over some doubters & get some credit in the bank. Style and performances would have helped but while in transition it was important that we found a way to win, but on that he has plainly failed. His philosophy might be important to him, and to us in the long-run, but he simply has to start winning games domestically, starting with next Sunday at home. 

The 49ers might not respond to outside noise however the sight of Ibrox resembling the early 1980s might just make them stand up and take notice and I fear a diet version of that is what awaits if we lose next week against what, in truth, is a poor Celtic side by their own fans’ admission. 

Sometimes leadership is resisting the popular option and staying true to your beliefs. At other times it is being brave enough to admit you made a mistake. Time will tell which it is to be at Rangers.