Russell Martin Rangers interview decoded by five experts as risk/reward warning comes with 'strategic' blast

Daily Record

5 days ago

A fuming Martin warned his Gers flops to 'drop their egos' after stumbling to an opening day draw at Motherwell
Day one of the new season and the new Rangers manager was ripping into his players.
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It's not what Andrew Cavenagh, 49ers Enterprises or fans hopeful of a new dawn will have wanted to hear.
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That's now three campaigns in a row where Gers have dropped points out the traps and ended up watching Celtic tearing off into the title distance.
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Russell Martin said before the 1-1 draw at Motherwell that there was plenty of time to recover. That's true, although his post-match comments demanding some of his stars "drop their egos" and get with the programme suggests he's not about to afford them much of it.
Sutty seemed taken aback, but how have others interpreted Martin's nuclear rant?
Here's what five other Scottish football experts had to say on the early season slap down.
Kris Boyd
"I don't mind the interview after the game. It's refreshing because you hear a lot of managers coming out and paying lip service because players have had so much power. Managers might look and think if I have a go at them, I might lose them.
"I'm not surprised and for far too long, Rangers players have been running the football club and the performances have not been there, hence the reason why Celtic have been so dominant. Something has to change.
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"Listen it's one game in and anybody who watched the two European performances, the most important thing was getting through. You can't knock that. But in the performances, there's still a lot to work on. Russell Martin will know that.
"It's going to take time. The Rangers fans will have to be patient but you don't get time. You need to win games of football and Russell Martin will totally understand that. But it's the same things that keep happening at Rangers time after time after time. It's up to Russell to now find a formula that wins Rangers games of football.
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"Russell Martin doesn't have anything to lose because I'm sure he's trying to get players in and the ones who have been there for a period of time have failed. If it means they don't want to go on the journey with him, he'll get rid of them. And there's nothing wrong with that.
"Russell Martin's not in Glasgow or Scotland to make friends with players. He's there to get results And if they need called out - it's actually pretty sad if that is the case - you need a manager to really have a go at you, openly as well. I'd like to think he's had a go at them in the dressing room as well so if he's now going public with it, you know exactly what that means. he doesn't think a lot of them are prepared to go on this journey.
"And one thing for me, they either knuckle down and start performing at the level they've shown in European games or against Celtic and start doing that against the rest. Treat the rest of the league with the respect that it deserves.
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"Rangers players are not bad players. They've shown in Europe and against Celtic that they can turn up for big games. but against the rest - and it was the same yesterday - it's oh we're the bigger club, we can rock up and get a performance, it doesn't matter. It took for Motherwell to score for Rangers to then up it again. That can't be the case."
Jack Ross
"A lot of managers now, because you become better educated on the impact of what you say publicly, and those that come out and are emotional, they do their work towards understanding the impact of it.
"And for me, that's not what that was. There was emotion behind what he was saying, but that's strategic. There's an authenticity in what he was saying. On the back of the Panathinaikos games there's been positivity. But when you compare those interviews with that one, that was punchy. That's what I really think of the group that I inherited.
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"There's always a risk/reward element of that. But as Kris has touched on, he knows the size of the job he's got, how long you get to make an impact and he's almost going all in to say 'I need to impact this and make changes.'"
Scott Brown
"It's honest. If you look at Rangers over the last five or six years, somebody has to say it. And Russell is definitely the man to go and say it. He's not going to be shy. He's a fantastic coach and was doing good things down in England.
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"Now he's come up here and as Boydy says, you're not going to get a lot of time. He needs to make sure he hits the ground running. A 1-1 performance, whether you have 70 per cent of the ball or not, the last thing. that matter sis the result."
Ian McCall
"It was just too many words. People have picked up on that and will look at it in five or six different ways because it's the west of Scotland and its Rangers.
"I saw the game and I do think playing in the heat in Greece and then coming back to Fir Park which is never easy historically, was always going to be a tough game but I was very surprised that he went to such length and into as much detail.
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"Whether he will keep doing that, I don't know. I suspect as manager of Rangers or Celtic, that when you feel disappointed or let down, I would have thought you would want to keep it to yourself and not be too strong about it.
"But time will tell. It was a magnificent result over the two games against Panathinaikos. It must have been hard to take (against Motherwell) and he saw things he didn't like but maybe they could have been said in the dressing room rather than with the media. It was certainly an interesting chat he had, that's for sure.
"One of the good things I took from it was that it's not a technical thing. I'm pleased that he said 'if it is not working technically then it's down to me'. But running hard, doing the right things and having the right attitude is down to the player."
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Callum Davidson
"I don't think (it was an emotional reaction) with Russell. He is obviously an intelligent guy and he knows what he wants to say.
"What I took from that was that he wants to improve the mentality at Rangers. He wants to say that there are 'no excuses, you are playing in Europe and then in the league'.
"That's what I got from his interview. If you are not going to run. work hard and do the jobs you are supposed to do, then you won't play.
"The problem he has got there is that he needs to make sure that he gets the players in that will do what he wants to do.
"He was disappointed in that last half an hour where they looked a bit leggy and tired. But he doesn't want that to be an excuse.
"As a manager you are emotional. I think he has laid it out there and sent a message to his players that if you are going to play for Rangers Football Club, then this what I expect."