Emotional Russell Martin shares heartbreaking tale of violent and abusive father that shaped incoming Rangers boss

Daily Record

3 days ago

The 39-year-old is on the brink of being appointed boss at Ibrox and shared the tale of his tough upbringing
Rangers manager-in-waiting Russell Martin shared the heartbreaking story of his tough upbringing with an abusive dad and how it shaped his football career.
The 39-year-old opened up recently in an emotional interview with England strike legend Gary Lineker and spoke candidly of his complex relationship with his late Scottish dad, Dean.
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Martin - capped 29 times for Scotland - admitted there was 'too much violence' from his dad towards his mum Kerry in his household as he was growing up with his three brothers and his dad.
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After his mother moved out, Martin and his brothers forced his father out and they mucked in to fend for themselves with Martin cleaning pub toilets and working in supermarkets before moving into the professional ranks at the relatively late age of 18.
Martin, who has also had to battle ulcerative colitis during his career, admitted it was tough but that it has also helped him in his role as a captain in his playing days and a manager.
Rangers boss.
Martin was the second youngest of four brothers, growing up in Brighton.
The family home was lost to his gambling debts — and he moved them next door to a bookies where he would hone his footballing skills while his dad was inside punting.
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Speaking to Lineker in the Rest Is Football podcast, he shared the heartbreaking story. He said: 'It was interesting, colourful (early life and upbringing). It was busy. A house with four boys. It was turbulent. It was difficult in some ways but it's given me a lot which I'm grateful for.
'There was too much violence and it became a bit normal. From my dad to my mum. I witnessed a lot of it. A lot of my childhood was spent trying to placate the adults in my life.
'So very early on I recognised I had some level of opportunity to impact my dad enough for it to not get to that point. Or to talk my mum down from the ledge where it would go beyond and there was no turning back.
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'It was very tense, a lot of suppressed feeling a lot of the time trying to read body language. It's actually given me in a leadership role, I was captain for most of the clubs I played for, and it's given me a bit of intuition around body language and energy and feeling so I'm grateful for that side, although I'd rather it didn't happen.
'A lot of it was trying to protect my littler brother and shield him from that. We were close in age but I felt very protective of my mum early on.
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"The problem with my dad was he had the capability to be amazing and really likeable but the gap between him at his best and worst was too big.
'And he was a big gambler so the day depended on how he did at the bookies and he worked nights on the taxis so you couldn't make a sound in the morning so it was eggshells a lot of the time and I spent a lot of time kicking the ball against the bookies wall.
'My dad was great in some ways but I'd never do with my kids what he did with me. He would drop me and my brother a mile from home when it was dark and make us run home by a certain time.
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'He put a lot of pressure on us boys because he was a good footballer and boxer. On a Sunday you had the ability to make it a good day by playing well.
'He managed my brother's teams so he had it a lot harder than me. I tried to do everything in spite. To prove that I could do it. It built a lot of resilience in me, the ability to feel physical pain and keep going but also emotional pain and intolerance for it. My brother couldn't quite deal with it."
Martin explained how the pain was a driving force in his career, adding: 'I used it to spur me on. It can be as big a drive is anyway - I've been in dressing rooms where it's the same and people do it in spite of their leader.
'My mum moved out when I was 15 and together we said to dad 'you're gone'. My older brother took us on and kept the house going. I worked cleaning pubs to try and chip in, I worked in the Spar and Co up the road. I was training three nights a week, we all dug in but it was a really difficult time.
'I was cleaning the brass on the door handles of pub toilet doors. I did it the first day and the boss walked me round to say it wasn't finished. I couldn't see it so I went and got an eye test and it turned out I was shortsighted.'