- 3 months ago
Mark Atkinson and Matthew Elder discuss Russell Martin's exit from Rangers.
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00:00Hello and welcome to the Scotsman Football Show where we're addressing the breaking news
00:08that Russell Martin has been sacked as the manager of Rangers after just 123 days in
00:15charge and becoming the shortest lived tenure in the club's history. After a 1-1 drop Falkirk
00:22Stadium today, I was there, I witnessed the match. Again, Rangers were poor, Falkirk probably
00:27the better team and could have won the game, deservedly so, which has kind of been the
00:33theme of Russell Martin's tenure really. Domestic matches where they've scraped by and managed
00:38to get wins where they went over Livingston last week where they required an injury time
00:43goal to win that one. There was no such late heroics today from Rangers and now he's gone,
00:53Mark. I'm joined by Mark Atkinson, our sports editor, to discuss this. Mark, I think we
01:00all saw this coming after the result today but not only that, there are the scenes at Falkirk
01:04Stadium as well where we had a group of supporters barricading themselves around the team bus afterwards
01:10and Martin himself requiring a police escort back to his car to avoid the crowds. Not what
01:18we want to see, obviously, but when you do end up in a situation like this, there's only
01:23really one way it's going to go.
01:25Mark Atkinson
01:26Yeah, yeah. I think for the good of everybody, for the good of Rangers football club and the
01:31good of Russell Martin, his tenure is over. I felt that this was going to happen after
01:37the incident in Graz earlier in the week where sporting director Kevin Felwell and chief director
01:43Patrick Stewart were, I suppose, accosted by fans in a Graz hotel. And at that point you're
01:50thinking, right, this guy's only one win, well, one defeat away from losing his job, even just one
01:56draw. And so it's transpired after this one. Pressure was immense on this Rangers board. I think
02:02once it gets to that point and the suits are essentially getting in the neck from the fans,
02:08there's only one way it can end. The run of form has been abject, per interest of standard. Five wins in 17 games.
02:15They sit eighth in the Premiership. They've only won one league game all season and that was a
02:20last minute victory over Livingston. The team has looked so disjointed. The club is in decline,
02:28let's be honest, under new owners. This probably should have happened actually weeks ago, but with
02:34an international break now upon us, it's a very natural point for Rangers to pull the trigger. He will go
02:40down, I think, as one of the worst, if not the worst Rangers manager in the club's history. You
02:45mentioned the short period of time he's been in charge. He's despised by so many Rangers fans. It
02:53was a bad fit from day one. And he showed very little that he was capable of turning it around.
03:00It's the right call. I applaud Rangers are finally doing it. This should happen weeks ago. And the only
03:06way that this new regime, spearheaded by Andrew Kavanagh and 49 entrepreneurs, can actually salvage the
03:12wreckage that they've created is by swiftly appointing the correct manager to take them forward. Who that is,
03:19we're not sure. I'm sure Rangers fans will have plenty of names in the pipeline. But this board must get it right,
03:26because this club's in a terrible mess. They're in a worse off state than they were six months ago. And that's a
03:32damning indictment.
03:34Yeah, not great on the people who hired Russell Martin. Obviously the new American owners came in to
03:40Ibrox this summer. And after what they described as a long and exhaustive recruitment process, came up with a
03:47name that Rangers fans didn't want from day one and nothing Russell Martin's team did thereafter convinced
03:52them otherwise. And even today, as was the case in Livingston last week, taking the lead in the match was
04:00not enough to quieten the chance for him to go. And the question probably before the match was what would
04:08it take for Rangers fans to warm to Russell Martin? Would anything change their mind?
04:16But it ended up being what would it, how long will the Rangers board let this go?
04:21And obviously we've never had our answer tonight.
04:23Yeah. I mean, there was no other option for this Rangers board. It was negligent to let it go this long.
04:33And I'm not even sure what the word you would use to describe it now if they kept him in position.
04:38It would have been cruel on Martin. I mean, leading the way he did.
04:41It had shades of Jim Goodwin at Aberdeen a few years ago trudging across the East Road pitch
04:47in a forlorn state. You just knew at that point that time was up for him.
04:51I suspect there'll be an element of relief from him because he's endured some terrible criticism,
04:58some personal stinging barbs against him and his lifestyle, which quite frankly,
05:03nobody should have to go through. It's been a really ugly tenure, a really ugly affair.
05:10And I don't think this Rangers team is quite as bad as 8th place suggests that they recruited poorly
05:16and they've got too many players that don't have the mentality to play to Rangers.
05:20But I have no doubt that under a better manager, they could definitely be in a much better place.
05:26And given Celtic are ahead of them by a decent margin of 9 points,
05:32and given Hearts are on the premises now, they have an 11 point lead.
05:36Rangers couldn't afford to experiment any more.
05:39They couldn't afford, in Russell Martin's words, any more pain.
05:43There's no wriggle room at Rangers at the best of times.
05:48At the worst of times, you have to be swift and decisive.
05:51There'll be a lot of soul searching, I think, at Ibrox tonight.
05:54This new tenure, this new regime, they came in.
05:57The last thing they would have wanted to do was sack a manager this early in,
06:02but they've had to. And you wonder actually if potentially more heads might roll.
06:08I wonder if the Rangers board might need to make changes at the director level.
06:14Does Patrick Stewart, the CEO, survive?
06:16He, of course, was there before the 49ers came in and took over.
06:21I think sporting director Kevin Fellwell has a lot to answer for
06:24because the recruitment strategy doesn't look right.
06:27How can you spend 8 million pounds on a potential player in Chimiti
06:32rather than signing somebody who is ready to go running?
06:35That doesn't happen at Rangers.
06:37You feel like there's been so many poor decisions made at that club right now.
06:41And, yeah, the only way they can regain the trust of the fans
06:46and improve performances is by getting the right man.
06:49But the question I pose to you, Matthew, is who is that right man?
06:52Who do Rangers turn to next?
06:54I wonder, is it someone like a Sean Dyche character,
06:57a very traditional British experienced manager?
07:00Do they try and push the boat out and get Steven Gerrard back?
07:03Do they look abroad?
07:05What do Rangers do now?
07:07There is so little time to claw back this deficit on Celtic and Hearts.
07:12So the next few weeks are going to be as fascinating as the previous ones.
07:17They could throw the cat amongst the pigeons and go for Derek McInnes at Hearts.
07:21The manager they probably should have appointed a long time ago.
07:24And Hearts fans won't thank me for saying that.
07:26But he's an outstanding candidate in Scottish football at the moment.
07:30There's also, I mean, if they want to look closer to home, there's other managers in Scottish football doing well as well.
07:35One of them was in the opposite dugout today.
07:37John McGlynn's Falkirk, quite just so well structured in such the antithesis of what Martin's Rangers have been the whole way through.
07:46But in terms of Sean Dyche, I think he is the bookies favourite, certainly, and has been as the bookmakers have opened the markets over the last few weeks as Martin's tenure is completely unraveled.
07:58There's not been a lot of other names on that list that would really have, would get Rangers fans excited, I don't think.
08:08Which was kind of the case during the summer as well.
08:11So yes, as Patrick Stewart said to want to support her in Austria during the week, who would you appoint?
08:18It's the million dollar question.
08:23We do know that this Rangers hierarchy have been in, in sort of football director parlance doing their due diligence on potential candidates.
08:34And I have no doubt that they will have been sounding out potential new managers while Martin was in post.
08:42That's what happens.
08:43Anyone who says otherwise is, it's just not being truthful about how business works at the top end of football.
08:49It's still an attractive job, Rangers.
08:53There's no doubt in that.
08:54They are one of the biggest clubs in Britain.
08:57You could argue known worldwide.
09:01If you get it right at Rangers, it can be one of the most rewarding jobs out there.
09:05And someone like a Sean Dyche character might just fancy it, given that he's experienced enough and knows how to get a team organised and playing well and doing the basics correctly.
09:18I think that's what Rangers need is someone that can actually do the basics.
09:21You can get the best out of the players, can get a structure, get a team that's defensively organised, doesn't ship cheap goals.
09:28There's so many things that I think can be improved quite quickly at Rangers and it just needs a bread and butter manager to do that.
09:36So Dyche would tick those boxes.
09:39But who knows?
09:40At this moment in time, there'll be a lot of, as I said, soul searching at Rangers, a lot of reflection and also a lot of action required.
09:51I do feel that they haven't got much time to do this properly because otherwise Celtic and Hearts get too far away.
09:58I don't think this Hearts team are anywhere near as flaky as Aberdeen were last year.
10:03Remember, Aberdeen were nine points clear of Rangers at one point.
10:06I think Hearts are a different beast to this Aberdeen team.
10:09They may not finish top, they may not finish second, but they'll be in and around the old firm for most of the season.
10:16So Rangers have to get their act together fast.
10:19Fascinating times ahead.
10:21Do you think we may have a new Rangers manager in place by that Dundee United match after the international break?
10:27Well, I think part of the reason why they have to act swiftly is there's not an obvious candidate to sort of step in and keep their hand on the tiller while they look.
10:36The coaching staff that Rangers had under Martin, they were all brought in by him.
10:42There's no kind of what I call legacy coaches.
10:45So you need to probably be really swift in getting that management team in.
10:51I would expect them to try and have it in by Dundee United on October 18, which is at Ibrox.
10:58There just isn't that kind of structure in place at Rangers.
11:03Also that Rangers are part of a wider group.
11:06The 49 Enterprises have obviously got links to Leeds United.
11:09They're a powerful organization.
11:12They will have plenty of contacts and coaches on tap.
11:15So I do think the next person will probably come in quite quickly.
11:19But if someone had told me when they appointed Russell Martin that Rangers would be in this state right now, I would have laughed at them.
11:25So nothing would surprise you when it comes to this club right now.
11:28It's truly incredible times at High Pulse right now.
11:33Indeed.
11:34We shall see what happens over the next fortnight then and who will be in the dugout when it comes to that match at Ibrox on October 18th against Nundee United.
11:42But for now, Mark, thanks for joining me and we'll speak again soon.
11:47Bye.
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