That 90 minutes fooled nobody. Well, apart from maybe a CEO and Director of Football who, like the manager, appear to be miles out of their depth. A drab, lifeless, 0-0 draw at home to an unimpressive Celtic side who were clearly playing for a draw changes nothing. Russell Martin needs to go – and he needs to go now – before yet another season is written off and we spend the remainder of it ticking off the glorified friendlies week after week until it’s finally all over and we look to pin our hopes on the next campaign. Again.
This was never going to work. Sure, we all said as much when he was announced, but did any of us think it would be this bad?
Four league games without a win. Six points already adrift in a title race that feels like it’s slipping away before it’s even started. Our joint-heaviest European defeat. Limping past League One opposition at home in the cup while conceding two laughable goals in the process. 169 shots faced in just 11 games. Our best player bombed out of the matchday squad amid an apparent fallout. And through it all, a manager who emerges in a post-match press conference to tell us he’s “proud” and that the team was “excellent” after a home draw against a lethargic, fatigued Celtic team, where we didn’t muster a single shot on target. This whole Russell Martin experiment has been doomed from day one, and it needs to end.
The pathetic points return that has seen us go winless in our first four games and record our worst start to a league campaign since 1989 is beyond farcical. A minority might try to comfort themselves by pointing out that, under Graeme Souness in that 1989/90 season, we still went on to be crowned champions. But let’s be clear: the scenarios aren’t comparable. Back then, points were dropped all over the division. Scotland’s top-flight was a lot more competitive, and sides took points off each other at the top end of the table a lot more regularly. Now? It’s a different story entirely. The standard today is nowhere near the late 1980s. We’re fielding a multi-million-pound squad against plodding journeymen most weeks who, nine times out of ten, should be swept aside without us breaking sweat. For Rangers – and Celtic – every point is a prisoner. And to have thrown so many away so early into a league campaign already looks fatal to any serious title hopes.
This wasn’t even a daunting run of opening fixtures, either. Motherwell, Dundee, and St Mirren should have been nine points from nine – the perfect platform heading into the Old Firm. Instead, over-complicated instructions and unnecessary tactics saw a confused and uncomfortable group of players stumble to three straight league draws. And if we’re honest, on the balance of play, they could easily have been three defeats.
Upon the unveiling of the new manager in June, we were told by Kevin Thelwell that Martin’s teams “play dominant football, control the ball, dictate the tempo, and impose themselves physically. They press aggressively and work relentlessly off the ball.” Eleven competitive games in, and none of that has appeared anywhere neat enough. We’ve seen it in flashes: the first half at home to Viktoria Plzen, the team looked half decent for the first half-hour at Fir Park, and the pressing against Celtic yesterday was ok. Other than that? Nothing. It’s been a flat, shapeless, confusing mess that’s seen Panathinaikos, Viktoria Plzen, Motherwell, Dundee, Alloa, St Mirren, and Brugge all cut the defence open with ease. The players have looked uncertain of what’s being asked of them. The midfield is unbalanced, goalscoring opportunities are few and far between, the defence looks like an accident waiting to happen, and conceding a goal feels inevitable every time the opposition nears the box.
Yesterday’s Old Firm game did see a slight improvement defensively, as the manager couldn’t wait to point out in his post-match press conference. But it would be hard not to be an upgrade on what was served up in Brugge, as well as the preceding games. That’s hardly a cause for celebration and mass positivity. The forward area, though, was as ineffective yesterday as it has been for most of Martin’s tenure. And that, for me, is becoming the biggest concern in this team. Barring two penalty appeals and one disallowed goal, we didn’t even look like scoring. In fact, the team has scarcely looked like scoring in all four league games to date, finding the net only three times – a penalty, a header from a corner, and one solitary goal from open play. A statistic that’s a million miles away from the ‘dominant football’ promised.
The manager seemed happy at full time yesterday, as if he had accomplished a great day’s work, when everyone else knew it wasn’t. Let’s face it – that Celtic team was there for the taking. They had just come off the back of European disappointment of their own, traveling to Kazakhstan and back on either side of the match they lost on penalties. They looked fragile, tired, and were happy to come to Ibrox, claim a point, and leave. And we let them away with it. There’s no doubting they’d have left the stadium yesterday as the happier of the two teams – and why wouldn’t they? They’re still top of the league while we sit 7th, they’re still six points clear and have now crossed off a visit to Ibrox with no harm done. Yesterday was a must-win, and it’s another failure on Martin’s watch.
The owners were in the directors’ box yesterday, too, with numerous guests; they can’t have been happy or even remotely entertained by what was served up. According to Martin, pre-match, though, the Chairman and Vice-Chairman met with the players on Saturday to encourage them to “trust the process” and get behind the manager. In other words, he’s not going anywhere anytime soon. Andrew Cavenagh, Paraag Marathe, Kevin Thelwell, and Patrick Stewart might well be backing him for the time being, but the fans most definitely aren’t. That was clear from the stands in Brugge on Wednesday and again yesterday as he walked down the tunnel at full-time.
So, the board has a decision to make: double down and back a struggling manager, opening themselves up to fan toxicity at a time when togetherness between the board and the support is of paramount importance if this is to be a successful era. Or, admit defeat, accept that this was a failed project, end it now, and bring in a replacement to keep the fans onside and salvage the season. I’m sure Fenerbahce just got rid of their manager — wonder if he’d be interested.
For Russell Martin to turn this around now would be the mother of all miracles. And I really, really hope he does. But I can’t help coming back to the go-to phrase of the Rangers support over the past couple of weeks — we all know how this ends.