Latest news with #RussellMartin
BBC News
4 hours ago
- Business
- BBC News
Martin 'a brilliant fit for Rangers'
Having admired the work he did at Swansea City, Lee Trundle reckons Russell Martin would be "a brilliant fit" for spent two seasons with the Welsh club before moving to Championship rivals Southampton in took the Saints to the Premier League via the play-offs but lost his job in December after just one win in 16 top flight the 39-year-old is among the favourites to take over at Ibrox."He's a very clever manager," Trundle told Sportsound on BBC Radio Scotland. "I think he'd be a brilliant fit for Rangers."Man-management is probably one of his strongest points. Everyone at Swansea loved playing for him. He's honest with his players, he tells them what he needs."Trundle, who starred for Swansea and now enjoys an ambassadorial role for the club, added: "You need to get the right players in for the way he wants to play. It's football from the back to front, fans need to be patient at times with the build-up."I don't think he has a plan A or a plan B, it's just the way he sees football. He thinks that is how the game should be played and he sticks with it."When you get it right, there's no one better to watch."At Southampton, when they were losing games, of course fans are going to be frustrated. He did really well with them to get them to the Premier League but then you go up another 100 steps."
Scotsman
6 hours ago
- Sport
- Scotsman
Next Rangers manager: New odds-on favourite for Ibrox hotseat as takeover accelerates progress
Ancelotti displaced in market as Rangers continue search for new boss 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... Russell Martin is now the new favourite to become the next manager of Rangers, according to the bookmakers. Martin has been out of work since being sacked by Southampton last December and the former Scotland internationalist, who spent a season on loan at Rangers in 2018 during his playing career, recently stated that he is ready to return to the dugout. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Martin, 39, has also been linked with a move to Leicester City, who were relegated from the English Premier League alongside Saints, but now he is the odds-on favourite with bookies such as Betfair following a change in the market. Russell Martin's most recent role was at Southampton. | Getty Images Martin is now priced at 8/11 and replaces Davide Ancelotti at the head of the market. The former Real Madrid coach and long-time frontrunner remains prominent in the market at evens, while the next candidate in the betting is Francesco Farioli at 10/1. Rangers are expected to conclude their hunt for Philippe Clement's successor next week after a US-based consortium fronted up by Andrew Cavenagh and 49ers Enterprises completed their takeover of the club on Friday. Cavenagh has been appointed chairman of Rangers, with new sporting director Kevin Thelwell due to officially take up his position at Ibrox next week. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Rangers' start to season Rangers' competitive season begins in mid-July when they enter the Champions League at the second qualifying round. They will face either Servette, Brann or Panathinaikos in that tie. Despite not having a head coach, Rangers have pressed ahead with their pre-season plans. They will play two friendlies ahead of their Champions League qualifiers at home to Club Brugge (July 6) and Middlesbrough (July 20).
Daily Record
6 hours ago
- Business
- Daily Record
Davide Ancelotti suffers Rangers next manager status tumble as bookies scamper to cover THAT bubbling boss rumour
The 49ers Enterprises got the big Ibrox takeover over the line on Friday and now all focus is on a new manager Russell Martin has surged into odds-on to land the Rangers job. Leading bookmaker Betfair has installed the former Southampton boss as the new leading candidate ahead of Davide Ancelotti as 49ers Enterprises make installing a permanent manager a matter of urgency after their big Ibrox takeover. That was the first of two major hurdles to be negotiated off the park with the next Philippe Clement's permanent successor after a decision was made following the final game of the season against Hibs that interim boss Barry Ferguson would not get the role. Now former Real Madrid No2 Davide Ancelotti - son of legendary manager Carlo - has been the leading name for weeks but now Martin has flipped the manager script and that has seen bookies scamper to cover themselves as things bubble away. In an open letter to fans after purchasing a majority stake in the club new chairman and vice chairman Andrew Cavenagh and Paraag Marathe stated: "Simply put – our goal is to win trophies in Scotland and be able to compete at a high level in Europe, while laying a foundation of financial sustainability for the future. "As our first step, we are investing fresh capital into Rangers, which will be strategically deployed on and off the pitch. "While we recognise the importance of resources, we believe that thoughtful, disciplined investment, guided by a clear strategy, is the path to enduring success. "Every decision, whether sporting or business, will be made with the club's long-term success and sustainability in mind. "We aim to leverage the full strength of 49ers Enterprises' sporting expertise and operational experience, and are confident in Patrick Stewart and Kevin Thelwell to lead this next phase. "Our first priority together is clear: hiring a new men's head coach. That process is already well underway, and we look forward to sharing more updates soon. We will also look to invest in talent for our teams." Rangers fans are desperate for a new man to be installed at the helm with pre-season just weeks away with a June 23 start. Champions League qualifiers swiftly follow a month later and with a host of Academy and top team players shown the door including Leon Balogun, Ianis Hagi and Tom Lawrence, the new manager will need to hit the ground running in the transfer market. The process is drawing towards a conclusion with the hunt 'well underway' and ex-defender Martin is now leading the pack in the betting market as the big decision looms large. Betfair: Next Permanent Rangers Manager Russell Martin 8/11 Davide Ancelotti 1/1 Francesco Farioli 10/1 Marco Rose 16/1 Steven Gerrard 20/1 Danny Rohl 22/1 Frank Lampard 25/1 Rob Edwards, Gary O'Neil, Kevin Muscat 33/1
Yahoo
9 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
'Martin or Ancelotti just one of the questions Rangers can't get wrong'
Russell Martin and Davide Ancelotti are both believed to be in the frame for the Ibrox manager's job [BBC] For much of the past week, Davide Ancelotti, son of the great Carlo, was seen to be ahead in the race to be the new manager of Rangers. The bookmakers shortened him to odds-on. Word from Spain was that Ancelotti was first choice. On Thursday night, a source closer to the scene in Glasgow supported that view. Advertisement On Friday, the vibe appeared to flip in Russell Martin's favour. Caution is strongly advised - this thing is fluid and capable of change from night into day - but Martin looks to be a slight favourite right now. Other names have flitted across the landscape. Brian Priske, the former Feyenoord manager, Francesco Farioli, previously of Ajax. All respected characters. Steven Gerrard was heavily touted from the get-go but according to a source close to the decision-making, Gerrard was never the frontrunner that people made him out to be. Martin is the surprise. He interviewed brilliantly and, says a source, "gave the board an awful lot to think about". Ancelotti versus Martin. You'd struggle to find two candidates with such different backstories. Ancelotti has worked as a coach under his father at Bayern Munich, Napoli, Everton and Real Madrid. Martin (briefly a Rangers player in a torrid era) has been manager at MK Dons, Swansea and Southampton, who he took to the Premier League last season before losing his job in December. Advertisement Ancelotti has had a safe, stable and apparently glamorous upbringing. Martin has spoken powerfully about the domestic violence of his youth and how it passed from his grandfather to his father, how his dad physically abused his mum and how his father lost the family home through his addiction to gambling. "I look back at stuff that I found normal as a kid and now realise it was not normal," he told the Sunday Times in November 2023. Martin would be a tougher sell to Rangers supporters. His coaching is driven by his admiration for the possession football of Barcelona, Manchester City and Spain. He took Southampton into the Premier League via the play-offs (in the final they beat Leeds United, whose chairman Paraag Marathe is now also vice-chairman of Rangers in the new regime announced on Friday), but his name doesn't appear to be setting hearts fluttering on the Broomloan Road. Advertisement Andrew Cavenagh (the new Rangers chairman and the senior figure in the takeover), Marathe (new Rangers vice-chair, chairman of Leeds and president of San Francisco 49ers Enterprises), Gretar Steinsson (technical director at Leeds and now a significant influence at Ibrox), sporting director Kevin Thelwell and chief executive Patrick Stewart are the key people in the appointment. The mystique and mystery of Ancelotti or the more experienced management and known track record of Martin? They cannot afford to get it wrong. An announcement is expected next week. Perhaps very early next week. Change is everywhere at Rangers but can they get it right this time? From Alastair Johnston to Craig Whyte, from Malcolm Murray to Sandy Easdale and onwards to David Somers, Dave King, Douglas Park and beyond, Rangers are now on their 13th chairman since David Murray packed it in for good almost 16 years ago. Advertisement Cavenagh has taken the place of Fraser Thornton, who was only in the post since mid-December last year. Thornton, however, remains on a board that's now unrecognisable. For a decade and more, Rangers have gone through any amount of chairmen, chief executives and managers. There isn't enough wall space at Ibrox to picture them all. Not that many of them, in the eyes of Rangers people, deserve to be pictured. Change has been a constant part of Rangers over the past decade - and there's more change now. Profound change. A new chairman, a new vice-chairman, five new American board members coming in with three old ones moving out. Thelwell, starts on Monday. Under Thelwell and the new manager, plus the new manager's assistants, there will be a significant reimagining of the football operations department, a huge piece of work needing to be done on a failing sector. As one executive put it when talking about Auchenhowie, the Rangers training base: "The place needs to be gutted." Advertisement There will also be a squad re-build, or an attempt at one. Conservatively, Rangers need five new first-team starters. Maybe six. Some might argue they need more. They need to find young gems for small money while establishing a functioning player trading model, which is the centrepiece of the new regime. Apart from bedding in a new board, a new sporting director, a new management team, a new playing squad, a new scouting and recruitment department and new thinking on the academy, it's, er, business as usual. There's at least continuity in the canteen staff - we think. The new forces at Ibrox, draped in the stars and stripes Cavenagh is said to be demure, unflashy and unlikely to be appearing in the media all that often, if at all. He is, says somebody who knows him and the world he's about to enter, "the complete opposite to Dave King. He won't want to do interviews, doesn't want the limelight, but he's a football nut and this is his baby." Advertisement That same person says that there is no way that Cavenagh, Marathe or any of the other newcomers can fully grasp what they are getting themselves into. The madness of football life in Glasgow has to be experienced. Nobody can teach you about the suffocating nature of it when things aren't going well. Cavenagh has no experience of owning a football club, but that's where the machinery of the 49ers Enterprises group comes in. Marathe has been described as the driving force of the project, the razzmatazz to Cavenagh's stoicism. Commercial and hard nosed, Marathe has performed wonders as Leeds chairman since 49ers Enterprises took full control at Elland Road. There are certain parallels between the Leeds that Marathe moved into as chairman in the summer of 2023 and the Rangers he's now involved in. Advertisement Leeds had just been relegated after three seasons in the Premier League. The feeling of failure at Rangers after the season just gone is comparable. Marathe and the 49ers' leadership team knew that their first major decision was in appointing a new manager. The same applies now. He hit the jackpot with Daniel Farke. How Rangers people will hope that he can repeat the trick in Glasgow. The Leeds of 2023 had a disconnect between the fans and the club and that's been the case for a while now at Rangers. After years of iffy decision making by others at Elland Road, recruitment and player trading was a huge challenge for Marathe and the 49ers group and they nailed it. The team was re-built. Advertisement Georginio Rutter, Crysencio Summerville. Luis Sinisterra and Archie Gray were sold for eyewatering money. Between July 2024 and May 2025 they brought in more than £130m in transfer fees. In came many of the driven characters who won the Championship in early May, some for chunky fees, others for nothing or half-nothing. It was incredibly shrewd management. Rangers folk are entitled to feel excited. Marathe and the 49ers group don't just talk a good game. They've put it out there for all to see. Meanwhile, Leeds supporters are entitled to ask why key figures at their club are now getting themselves so involved in the affairs of another. How far does £20m go when Celtic continue to accumulate cash? The bottom line of £20m investment into football operations is only part of the new owners' commitment. Various figures are floating around as to how much they actually spent in acquiring their 51% shareholder, but "north of £60m" is how it was described by a source. Some have put it as high as £75m. Advertisement It's the £20m that has drawn the most attention, though. Is that it? Or is there more to come? A Rangers optimist might say that the new owners would hardly publicly announce a budget of double or treble that number for fear that selling clubs would see them coming and adjust their demands accordingly. Until they can be quizzed - none of the five Americans on the board will be moving to Glasgow, which will be fine… as long as things are positive at Ibrox - we can't know how much is actually there to redo the squad. What we do know is that player trading is utterly essential to what the new owners are hoping to do. A level of ruthlessness is overdue at Rangers, for too long a soft touch. Rangers have done well recently in reducing a wage bill that was described as "out of control" by a former director. Players who could have been sold for profit were not sold. Rangers talked about the necessity of a player trading model but never actually committed to it. This, it's believed, is going to change. Advertisement If there's an appealing offer for Nico Raskin (probably the club's most marketable player) then he'll be gone, same with Cyriel Dessers or anybody else. There's ongoing interest in the striker. The bottom line of £20m is small money - Celtic got more than that for Matt O'Riley - but it's how it is spent that matters. What the new owners are attempting to do is what Celtic have been doing for years. Find potential, develop it, sell it for profit. Rinse and repeat. If there's a war chest, they're not talking about it. Most likely, there's prudence, common sense and, if they have the stomach for the fight, a long-haul project. This doesn't look like a quick fix. It doesn't have the impression of an immediate threat to Celtic's dominance and to be get anywhere the new board are going to have hit the bullseye in trading the way they've done at Leeds. That's a Herculean task. Advertisement For years, though, a canny and influential figure at Parkhead used to ask what was happening "over the road" at Rangers and for many years - with the exception of one title-winning season - the answer was "not a lot". That's not the answer anymore.
BBC News
10 hours ago
- Business
- BBC News
'Martin or Ancelotti just one of the questions Rangers can't get wrong'
For much of the past week, Davide Ancelotti, son of the great Carlo, was seen to be ahead in the race to be the new manager of bookmakers shortened him to odds-on. Word from Spain was that Ancelotti was first choice. On Thursday night, a source closer to the scene in Glasgow supported that Friday, the vibe appeared to flip in Russell Martin's favour. Caution is strongly advised - this thing is fluid and capable of change from night into day - but Martin looks to be a slight favourite right names have flitted across the landscape. Brian Priske, the former Feyenoord manager, Francesco Farioli, previously of Ajax. All respected characters. Steven Gerrard was heavily touted from the get-go but according to a source close to the decision making, Gerrard was never the frontrunner that people made him out to is the surprise. He interviewed brilliantly and, says a source, "gave the board an awful lot to think about".Ancelotti versus Martin. You'd struggle to find two candidates with such different back stories. Ancelotti has worked as a coach under his father at Bayern Munich, Napoli, Everton and Real Madrid. Martin (briefly a Rangers player in a torrid era) has been manager at MK Dons, Swansea and Southampton, who he took to the Premier League last season before losing his job in has had a safe, stable and apparently glamorous upbringing. Martin has spoken powerfully about the domestic violence of his youth and how it passed from his grandfather to his father, how his dad physically abused his mum and how his father lost the family home through his addiction to gambling."I look back at stuff that I found normal as a kid and now realise it was not normal," he told the Sunday Times in November would be a tougher sell to Rangers supporters. His coaching is driven by his admiration for the possession football of Barcelona, Manchester City and took Southampton into the Premier League via the play-offs (in the final they beat Leeds United, whose chairman Paraag Marathe is now also vice-chairman of Rangers in the new regime announced on Friday), but his name doesn't appear to be setting hearts fluttering on the Broomloan Cavenagh (the new Rangers chairman and the senior figure in the takeover), Marathe (new Rangers vice-chair, chairman of Leeds and president of San Francisco 49ers Enterprises), Gretar Steinsson (technical director at Leeds and now a significant influence at Ibrox), sporting director Kevin Thelwell and chief executive Patrick Stewart are the key people in the mystique and mystery of Ancelotti or the more experienced management and known track record of Martin? They cannot afford to get it wrong. An announcement is expected next week. Perhaps very early next week. Change is everywhere at Rangers but can they get it right this time? From Alastair Johnston to Craig Whyte, from Malcolm Murray to Sandy Easdale and onwards to David Somers, Dave King, Douglas Park and beyond, Rangers are now on their 13th chairman since David Murray packed it in for good almost 16 years has taken the place of Fraser Thornton, who was only in the post since mid-December last year. Thornton, however, remains on a board that's now a decade and more, Rangers have gone through any amount of chairmen, chief executives and managers. There isn't enough wall space at Ibrox to picture them all. Not that many of them, in the eyes of Rangers people, deserve to be has been a constant part of Rangers over the past decade - and there's more change now. Profound change. A new chairman, a new vice-chairman, five new American board members coming in with three old ones moving out. Thelwell, starts on Thelwell and the new manager, plus the new manager's assistants, there will be a significant reimagining of the football operations department, a huge piece of work needing to be done on a failing sector. As one executive put it when talking about Auchenhowie, the Rangers training base: "The place needs to be gutted."There will also be a squad re-build, or an attempt at one. Conservatively, Rangers need five new first-team starters. Maybe six. Some might argue they need more. They need to find young gems for small money while establishing a functioning player trading model, which is the centrepiece of the new from bedding in a new board, a new sporting director, a new management team, a new playing squad, a new scouting and recruitment department and new thinking on the academy, it's, er, business as usual. There's at least continuity in the canteen staff - we think. The new forces at Ibrox, draped in the stars and stripes Cavenagh is said to be demure, unflashy and unlikely to be appearing in the media all that often, if at all. He is, says somebody who knows him and the world he's about to enter, "the complete opposite to Dave King. He won't want to do interviews, doesn't want the limelight, but he's a football nut and this is his baby."That same person says that there is no way that Cavenagh, Marathe or any of the other newcomers can fully grasp what they are getting themselves madness of football life in Glasgow has to be experienced. Nobody can teach you about the suffocating nature of it when things aren't going has no experience of owning a football club, but that's where the machinery of the 49ers Enterprises group comes in. Marathe has been described as the driving force of the project, the razzmatazz to Cavenagh's and hard nosed, Marathe has performed wonders as Leeds chairman since 49ers Enterprises took full control at Elland Road. There are certain parallels between the Leeds that Marathe moved into as chairman in the summer of 2023 and the Rangers he's now involved had just been relegated after three seasons in the Premier League. The feeling of failure at Rangers after the season just gone is and the 49ers' leadership team knew that their first major decision was in appointing a new manager. The same applies now. He hit the jackpot with Daniel Farke. How Rangers people will hope that he can repeat the trick in Leeds of 2023 had a disconnect between the fans and the club and that's been the case for a while now at years of iffy decision making by others at Elland Road, recruitment and player trading was a huge challenge for Marathe and the 49ers group and they nailed it. The team was Rutter, Crysencio Summerville. Luis Sinisterra and Archie Gray were sold for eyewatering money. Between July 2024 and May 2025 they brought in more than £130m in transfer came many of the driven characters who won the Championship in early May, some for chunky fees, others for nothing or half-nothing. It was incredibly shrewd management. Rangers folk are entitled to feel excited. Marathe and the 49ers group don't just talk a good game. They've put it out there for all to Leeds supporters are entitled to ask why key figures at their club are now getting themselves so involved in the affairs of another. How far does £20m go when Celtic continue to accumulate cash? The bottom line of £20m investment into football operations is only part of the new owners' commitment. Various figures are floating around as to how much they actually spent in acquiring their 51% shareholder, but "north of £60m" is how it was described by a source. Some have put it as high as £ the £20m that has drawn the most attention, though. Is that it? Or is there more to come? A Rangers optimist might say that the new owners would hardly publicly announce a budget of double or treble that number for fear that selling clubs would see them coming and adjust their demands they can be quizzed - none of the five Americans on the board will be moving to Glasgow, which will be fine… as long as things are positive at Ibrox - we can't know how much is actually there to redo the squad. What we do know is that player trading is utterly essential to what the new owners are hoping to do. A level of ruthlessness is overdue at Rangers, for too long a soft have done well recently in reducing a wage bill that was described as "out of control" by a former director. Players who could have been sold for profit were not sold. Rangers talked about the necessity of a player trading model but never actually committed to it. This, it's believed, is going to there's an appealing offer for Nico Raskin (probably the club's most marketable player) then he'll be gone, same with Cyriel Dessers or anybody else. There's ongoing interest in the bottom line of £20m is small money - Celtic got more than that for Matt O'Riley - but it's how it is spent that matters. What the new owners are attempting to do is what Celtic have been doing for years. Find potential, develop it, sell it for profit. Rinse and there's a war chest, they're not talking about it. Most likely, there's prudence, common sense and, if they have the stomach for the fight, a long-haul doesn't look like a quick fix. It doesn't have the impression of an immediate threat to Celtic's dominance and to be get anywhere the new board are going to have hit the bullseye in trading the way they've done at Leeds. That's a Herculean years, though, a canny and influential figure at Parkhead used to ask what was happening "over the road" at Rangers and for many years - with the exception of one title-winning season - the answer was "not a lot".That's not the answer anymore.
