Graeme Souness on big Rangers call Russell Martin got right

The Herald Scotland

06-08-2025

The Ibrox boss was unhappy with the work ethic of some of his players at Fir Park and would go on to drop captain James Tavernier and Nicolas Raskin, both big players under previous managers.
Some questioned whether it was wise for the 39-year-old to be so fierce towards his players so early into his reign but Souness sees no issue with it.
He said: "He went early, but that's his style. I thought it was a long-winded way of actually saying what is something I've experienced at a number of clubs. When you're at a true giant of a football club, every team you're playing, it's their cup final. I think that was the message he was trying to get across, that Rangers only play in cup finals. As do Celtic.
"You don't have any easy games. They may end up being easy games when you get yourselves a couple of goals up, but they don't start as easy games."
In terms of big-name players in Tavernier and Raskin being the ones to drop to the bench, Souness sees that as another shrewd move.
A statement, if you will, that players need to get up to the required standard rather than there being any chance of the manager accepting less.
"You'd have to say that he's put his foot down pretty quickly," he said. "And I don't see that as a bad thing. I think you're putting a marker down that I have my standards and you're going to have to come up to my standards to be a regular member or a starter in this team.
"It's not about him dropping his standards to accommodate players. A manager has to be the boss, and I think it's never been more difficult for a manager today to do that job than certainly when I was working."
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It is something the Rangers and Liverpool legend experienced as a player playing under the great Jock Stein, and went onto implement as a manager himself - at Ibrox and Anfield as well as the likes of Galatasaray, Southampton, Blackburn and Newcastle.
He recalled: "You rang a bell in my head because I've been talking about Jock Stein a lot recently. I always felt Jock Stein was hard on Kenny Dalglish and me with the Scottish team.
"And I think the message he was getting across to us was, if he didn't go after the younger guys, 'I can pick on these and I can bully them.' He did that; I was frightened of him. And the message was, 'If I can do that to them, you make sure you're on it.'"
"That was how I managed. I would leave the younger players alone. And if I felt some of the senior players gave me an opportunity, because you're looking to put a marker down, maybe he's putting a marker down very, very early on in the season. He's been criticised for going early, but it's his way of management if that's his choice. It's not new. As I said, Jock Stein would do it.
"I expected from the senior players to be the standard-bearers. They were the ones that had to set the standards within the dressing room. And that's how it should be.
"I'm a great believer that you don't have a successful football club unless you have good senior pros. And maybe he's expecting a bit more from some of the senior pros than he got at the weekend. I don't see anything wrong with him digging them out and saying 'Look, it ain't good enough', and then taking it forward to the next game and leaving them out. I don't see anything wrong with that. It's all on his head. It's his decisions that'll make him successful or not."
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Another masterstroke from the former Southampton manager was throwing Finnish winger Oliver Antman in for a debut just 24 hours after his move from Go Ahead Eagles was confirmed.
Antman repaid him with an exciting display, capped off by winning a penalty and providing an assist.
"The one I can think of where I bought someone and threw them straight in was a guy called Rob Jones," remembered Souness.
"I bought him from Crewe, a fullback who turned out to be a really good player but had his career cut short by a bad back. I'd signed him on a Wednesday or Thursday and our first game was at Old Trafford against Ryan Giggs, and he didn't give him a kick.
"I thought last night he [Antman] was fabulous. He looks like a real player. If that's his level of performance, Rangers supporters are going to love him."