Rangers' concern can't be Champions League - true marker is vs Celtic
Which, according to former Scotland international Colin Hendry, is to win the Scottish Premiership title back from Celtic.
Rangers will go into a two-legged encounter against the Greek giants, starting next week.
"Russell would have been 34 or 35 at the time and it was his first few weeks in the job at MK Dons," Hendry wrote in The Sunday Post. "We met for an hour and I was impressed.
"He was young, he was enthusiastic and he was honest. Russell showed me that he had something about him. I left the meeting thinking that I was going to follow his career.
"There is no doubt Russell will have learned so much from those four or five months in the EPL (with Southampton). Rangers will get the benefit of that.
"It is not going to be easy for him, that's for sure. It's a massive ask to go to Rangers and turn them into title winners. But that's what he has signed up for.
"He knows the level of expectation and he knows that he will need to deliver. Rangers is a massive football club and they want success. They are fed up seeing Celtic being so dominant.
Read more:
"The Champions League tie against Panathinaikos will be important, of course it is. But the true marker is what the club does in the Premiership.
"Winning the league is what truly matters. Last season, the team showed that they could beat Celtic. But the true marker is what the club does in the Premiership.
"But it was going to Motherwell, St Mirren and Hibernian. They are the fixtures where they faltered. They need to get that right.
"I found it tough psychologically, with the demands of having to win but not just by one goal. No, the fans wanted us to win by three or four.
"That's what Rangers is about. But that kind of pressure isn't for everyone. Whether a manager or a player, you need to have something special about you to cope with that every week.
"It's been clear in the past decade or so that too many people at Rangers haven't been up to the task and it needs to change."
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Scottish Sun
4 minutes ago
- Scottish Sun
Rangers star celebrates unique double after his RACEHORSE wins just hours before Gers beat Panathinaikos
Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) RANGERS' new era got off to a flyer with the Champions League qualifying win over Panathinaikos. But one Light Blues hero had another reason to celebrate - thanks to his HORSE. Sign up for the Rangers newsletter Sign up 4 Jm Jhingree triumphed at Musselburgh Credit: X/@MUSSELBURGHRACE 4 The horse is owned by a Rangers footie ace Credit: X/@MUSSELBURGHRACE 4 It got over the line to win the day's feature race Credit: X/@MUSSELBURGHRACE 4 Bailey Rice enjoyed a successful day all round Credit: Getty Russell Martin's first competitive game as Rangers manager ended with an impressive 2-0 win over Panathinaikos at Ibrox. Stunning strikes from Findlay Curtis and debutant Djeidi Gassama sealed the crucial first leg win in the Champions League second qualifying round tie. Bailey Rice was in the squad for the clash but didn't get off the bench. Still, he certainly enjoyed a good day and not only because of the football! Earlier in the day, Rice's RACEHORSE enjoyed a successful afternoon of things in the feature race at Musselburgh. Jm Jhingree was victorious in the Hays Travel Holiday Outside The Box Handicap in East Lothian. A 10/1 outsider, the three-year old won the 10-horse race with jockey Paul Mulrennan. It's Jm Jhingree's first ever victory. He's trained by Jim Goldie, who took to social media to exclaim his delight at the victory for the horse - and its owner! Gers ace Rice, 18, wasn't there to see his horse triumph, for rather obvious reasons. Rangers fans unfurl giant tifo ahead of Russell Martin's first match Trainer Goldie posted on X: "We're delighted for his owner Bailey Rice as this is his first winner! "Unfortunately he couldn't make it to Musselburgh as there's an important Champions League qualifier at Ibrox he may be playing in!" Rice was an unused sub during the huge clash in Govan. He'll be hoping to see some action in Greece next week when the Gers look to see the tie through and progress to the next round. Keep up to date with ALL the latest news and transfers at the Scottish Sun football page
BBC News
5 minutes ago
- BBC News
Butland reborn under new boss Martin?
When Rangers came under siege in the first half against Panathinaikos, Jack Butland stood goalkeeper began the Russell Martin era in imposing fashion, keeping the Greeks at bay as Rangers roused themselves after the break to cleave out a 2-0 lead to take to Greece for next week's second leg of the Champions League ended last season in the wilderness under interim boss Barry Ferguson after being displaced as first choice by Liam Kelly, has the arrival of Russell Martin revitalised Butland's Ibrox career?The early signs are promising. The former England number one made four saves - three of them diving stops - against Panathinaikos and was also aided by the post as Nemanja Maksimovic wasted a gilt-edged early Butland's saves came from shots inside the box, highlighting his sharp reflexes, as he kept a clean sheet in Martin's managerial bow despite the visitors registering an xG (expected goals) of praised the "outstanding" keeper's impact, saying: "We needed Jack a couple of times, big moments in the first half, he made a couple of brilliant saves," and vowed Rangers "will improve" in the second imprint was clear in the first-leg victory with Rangers having 75% possession and making a total of 708 passes compared to Panathinaikos' the Greeks showed far greater threat in the opening half - and ended the game with a higher xG and more touches in the opposition box than Rangers - and there remains "lots to work on" as Martin himself put it.
The National
31 minutes ago
- The National
Panathinaikos boss : Why Rangers loss wasn't true reflection
The home side were not at their best in the first half but struck early in the second through a sublime Findlay Curtis effort. The Greeks were then reduced to ten men when Giorgos Vagiannidis was ordered off for a second yellow, making their task even harder. Djeidi Gassama scored on his competitive debut to double the advantage and Rangers now hold all the aces going into the second leg in Athens. The visitors did miss chances to make the scoreline more bearable from their point of view. And their Portuguese manager insists they were the better side up until the red card, while admitting they must be more clinical. Speaking in his post-match press conference, he said: "I believe that this game can be divided in two parts. One part when we were 11 against 11, and the other part when we stayed with one player less. "So I believe that in this level that we speak, the Champions League level, I believe that the first part of the game was excellently played by by our side. We created very, very good opportunities. Read more: "The only thing that a coach can be sad about is losing this type of opportunities. "I believe that we came here in a very difficult stadium, but we were not afraid of the game. We entered very, very good. "We tried to press our opponent high. We tried to create difficulties for them. We created a lot of very, very good opportunities to score even inside their small box. "But in this level you must score from the opportunities that you create. It's very probable that you will be penalised by it. And so it so it happened today. "I believe that it's very difficult for a team to stay with one player less for so much time in this period of time because we are speaking about the beginning of the season in a very difficult pitch. "And with a very, very big effort from the physical part of our players until that point. "If someone stays only on the last 20 or 30 minutes and keeps an image of that part where it's true that Rangers tried to press us and score score goals. "It's not correct to keep this last image because I believe that my team showed great capacity, great quality and great great performance until that point we stayed with one player less. Read more: Filip Duricic is insistent Panathinaikos will still progress through the tie. His manager was not quite as forthright in making a prediction but is still confident in his team's chances. "We will never give up, we will never quit," he added. "We'll try to do everything in order to pass this qualifying round, out of respect of ourselves and of the performance that we made. "And given the fact that we will have the support of our fans in in Athens, and I will I want to take this opportunity to thank every fan that was here today to to support them because we felt this support throughout the game. "I just want to promise that we will do everything in order to pass this preliminary phase."
