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Daily Record
41 minutes ago
- Daily Record
Stephen Robinson shares Rangers relief as St Mirren boss reveals the last thing he needs amid fixture furore
Robinson is glad Gers have domne a 180 on playing in Paisley this Sunday as he looks to get new faces settled Stephen Robinson is relieved Rangers decided against requesting Sunday's Paisley clash to be shifted. Russell Martin 's Champions League hopefuls pondered a postponement in between the Brugge clashes but performed a U-turn and the televised game is on. That's good news for Robinson who wants games to get his St Mirren recruits up to speed. He's phasing 10 signings into his squad and doesn't fancy the first couple of months being any more stop-start. Robinson said: 'We want the game on because, otherwise, it does disrupt things and then you have an international break. So you have one game in, maybe, three or four weeks which isn't what we want. 'Especially with all the new players we've had in. We want game-time; we want them to see how we play. 'You can only do so much in training without things actually being executed in a proper match. So we're pleased it's on and we look forward to the match.' If Rangers' visit had been shelved, the Buddies' only action from Saturday's win over Hearts to a September 13 trip to Falkirk would've been at Hibs on August 31. Robbo needs games to get new boys to grips with his ways of working. He said: 'We're still trying to get people up to speed and still trying to find our best formation that works with this group of boys. 'We've brought wingers in who aren't quite ready to play yet. So actually having the wingers available to change the system and look at other options hasn't been afforded to us so far. 'People getting the understanding of what we want from them takes time.' You can get all the news you need on our dedicated Rangers and Celtic pages, and sign up to our newsletters to make sure you never miss a beat throughout the season. We're also WhatsApp where we bring all the latest breaking news and transfer gossip directly to you phone. Join our Rangers community here and our Celtic community here.
Daily Mail
42 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Woman on inflatable crocodile and teenagers on blow-up mattress have to be rescued after 'being blown out to sea'
A woman on an inflatable crocodile and teenagers on a blow-up mattress had to be rescued after 'being blown out to sea'. Lifeboats and coastal rescue teams at Ayr Beach in Scotland rushed to the scene shortly after 5pm on Monday following reports the two teenagers were in difficulty. After being rescued, the pair were brought back to shore and 'given safety advice' by the coastguard. Soon after on the same beach, a female sitting on a blow-up crocodile had to be rescued by members of the public after being swept out to sea. A coastguard spokesperson confirmed that all three are 'safe and well' and added: 'They stayed within their inflatables, but they were being blown out to sea.' It comes after two women were blown out to sea on a similar inflatable crocodile off the coast of Hoylake, Wirral in May. An RNLI team in the area had received reports that two walkers were stuck in waist-deep water near Hilbre Island earlier in the day. Lifeboats and coastal rescue teams at Ayr Beach in Scotland, pictured in a stock photo, rushed to the scene shortly after 5pm on Monday They then spotted the women, not wearing lifejackets, stranded on the inflatable reptile. The walkers ended up making it back to the island, but the women were taken back to the shore, according to a Coastguard spokesman. He added that beachgoers should always check tide times before heading out and that inflatables were not appropriate for use in the sea.
Scotsman
42 minutes ago
- Scotsman
Russell Martin reassures his mum but prospect of Rangers qualifying for Champions League gives the shudders
Qualify first, worry later is Rangers' mantra for £40m showdown Sign up to our Football newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... When his own mother is sending texts enquiring about his welfare, it seems fair to wonder whether Russell Martin's first two months as Rangers manager have gone well or otherwise. One look at the league table would suggest no, things have not been going well. Martin says he has soothed his mother's fears. But while he might be eating his greens and cleaning behind his ears, the fact remains that Rangers are already four points behind Celtic having drawn their opening two games against Motherwell and Dundee. Martin has already had to question whether some players are all ego and too little substance. He has also been booed by his own fans while making substitutions. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad On the up side, here he is, preparing to face a two-legged shootout with Club Brugge at a packed Ibrox for the right to enter the Champions League. Rangers have negotiated two tricky ties against Panathinaikos and Viktoria Plzen and are one more admittedly slightly trickier tie away from the promised land. It could be worth up to £40m to Rangers. Rangers head coach Russell Martin during his pre-match press conference ahead of facing Club Brugge in the Champions League play-off first leg at Ibrox. (Photo by Alan Harvey / SNS Group) | SNS Group Qualify first, worry later Are the Ibrox club ready for the Champions League? That's another question. Let's get there first and worry about it later was the gist of Martin's reply. It's possible to remember Giovanni van Bronckhorst saying something vaguely similar three years ago on the eve of a play-off clash against PSV Eindhoven. Rangers qualified, were quickly cast as patsies in a strong group made up by Liverpool, Napoli and Ajax and finished with the ignominious title of worst-ever Champions League team at this stage. Van Bronckhorst, despite having taken Rangers to the heights of the Europa League final the previous season, was gone by the end of the year. He'd been ill-served by qualifying for Europe's blue riband club football tournament at a time when Rangers were in a post-Europa League final reset. It's easy to imagine Martin's mother's anxiety for her son being appropriate were Rangers to reach the Champions League stage. Albeit it's a less punitive format now - two more games, potentially less formidable opponents along with the big guns. Having failed to beat both Dundee and Motherwell, one shudders at what the likes of Barcelona, Real Madrid and Paris St Germain might do to a Rangers side who are still in the early stages of their overhaul under Martin. It was the obvious question to ask the manager, given everything. What if? What if they actually do it? Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'Someone asked me if we've got the squad depth and all that to sustain it, if we need to worry about it. I think let's try and get in there first and qualify,' he replied. 'We're building a squad that has to compete in Europe, whether it's Europa League or the Champions League. So I think it would be incredibly exciting. "It would help us a lot as a football club moving forward," he added. "Not just financially, but what it would do for the players and their belief. And to then pit yourself against some of the best teams in the world would be a brilliant opportunity for us. So we're here to try and attack it as much as we can.' Rangers head coach Russell Martin on the training pitch ahead of the Champions League play-off first leg against Club Brugge at Ibrox. (Photo by Alan Harvey / SNS Group) | SNS Group 'Don't worry, mum' He seems to be relishing the challenges so far, despite the initial difficulties. He volunteered the information about his mother, who, hopefully, is not logging into the major Rangers fans' forums. Of course, such places that seem to exist in a state of perpetual hysteria are not necessarily areas to find rational assessment. Nevertheless, the booing which met the manager's decision to take off Lyall Cameron and then send on Kieran Dowell against Dundee two weekends ago was a signal that even rank-and-file Rangers fans are unconvinced by Martin's methods. 'I have a lot of people message me who read message boards and stuff who are concerned about me, and they just don't have to be,' he smiled. 'I keep telling my mum, 'Don't worry about it! It's all good. I'm enjoying it'.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad On the eve of such a high-octane match, he has urged his players to try and forget the riches at stake and enjoy it. Too many performances to date under him have been hindered by evident tension. He has also told his staff to drink it in. 'I appreciate the honour of managing this club every day and the gratitude I feel for that,' he said. 'So let's have that in the building. I said that to the staff as well. So many of them support the club but I think they've lost a bit of joy of being here and working here. Let's get back to that. Let's understand how big this is and how brilliant it could be and focus on what we can control and that is playing with so much energy tomorrow and feeding off it.' Russell Martin has guided Rangers through two tricky Champions League qualifying ties against Panathinaikos and Viktoria Plzen. (Photo by Alan Harvey / SNS Group) | SNS Group Celtic the priority The aggregate victories over Panathinaikos and Plzen were big wins. However, Martin needs bigger ones. Overcoming Brugge would qualify as this, as would beating Celtic at the end of this month. In fact, while succeeding in both assignments is the ideal, most fans, given the choice, would select beating Celtic as the priority. Then there's St Mirren, the game bookended by the Brugge legs. It has now been restored to the fixture calendar because Rangers could not risk handing their rivals the chance to establish a seven-point lead going into Old Firm week. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Of course, Celtic could still do that – they face Livingston the day before Rangers travel to face St Mirren, which is a tough test at the best of times. But the decision by the Rangers board to rescind their request to postpone the clash in Paisley is indicative of some early panic at Ibrox. It's also to allow defender Nasser Djiga to serve out his suspension following a red card v Dundee and leave him free to face Celtic.
