Six Rangers stars give Russell Martin a serious headache but there's one thing he can't sacrifice for Panathinaikos

Yahoo

24-07-2025

Neil Murray reckons Russell Martin will be wrestling with a massive selection dilemma ahead of his Euro bow as boss.
Martin has signed six stars in a flurry of business in less than four weeks.
Throw in pre-contract capture Lyall Cameron and there are seven new boys for the Rangers gaffer to pick from ahead of the clash with Panathinaikos.
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Murray, a veteran of several nerve-shredding Champions League qualifiers in the 90s, says there must be temptation to stick with experience.
Gers still boast core players who have made the Europa League quarter-finals and round of 16 in the last two seasons.
But Martin has his own guys Max Aarons, Nasser Djiga, Thelo Aasgaard, Manny Fernandez, Djeidi Gassama and Joe Rothwell in his 25-man Euro squad.
Murray said: 'Does he go with a nucleus from last season with a sprinkling of the new ones? Or does he go wholesale and put in all the new boys that he wanted?
'There are players who understand what it means to win in Europe for Rangers in recent years. It makes sense to have that useful experience. If the majority have played together, that can count for something.
'From what I can gather, Panathinaikos will have a settled team to play these games. Sometimes that can be a strength. It's about finding the best formula because there will be new players who give the Gers group a boost.
'Martin will hopefully have a good idea of his best XI. Team selection will be key over two legs and there are big calls to be made.
'In a wider sense for the season ahead, this Rangers squad is massive. There are plenty of players to choose from which can generate its own problems.'
Brian Laudrup was the only new boy in the team when Murray endured a Greek tragedy in 1994. Walter Smith's side were sunk 2-0 away by AEK Athens in the first leg. And the Greeks grabbed a 1-0 win at Ibrox to condemn Gers to a second successive season of failure to make the groups.
The Great Dane was starved of service recalls Murray, who said: 'Laudrup strengthened the team no end in his time at the club.
He added: 'His ability was outstanding but if we didn't have possession to feed him in dangerous areas, what he could do on his own was limited.
'We didn't give Laudrup the ammo. It was a difficult draw. AEK had quality throughout and it was all a bit too much for us.
'The strange thing was we played 3-5-2 having been 4-4-2 for years. We beat Manchester United 1-0 in the Ibrox Tournament the weekend before playing a back three.
'The idea was we could do it against AEK. But it was a risk to change how we'd played for a long time.'
AEK coasted the Ibrox leg after scoring in the first half as European Cup winner Basile Boli's Euro debut for Gers fell flat.
Murray said: 'It was Champions League or nothing back then – you didn't live to fight another day in a new competition.
'The qualifiers were a tightrope and going out was disappointing for the club financially and for the players.'