6 days ago
Graeme Souness reveals how Rangers boss Russell Martin showed shades of a legend with ruthless act
Martin went for high profile players when he dropped captain James Tavernier and Nico Raskin
Graeme Souness revealed how Russell Martin dumping captain James Tavernier and star midfielder Nico Raskin from his Rangers XI reminded him of a tactic used by the legendary Jock Stein.
Martin followed up his blast at some of his squad following Saturday's 1-1 draw against Motherwell in their Scottish Premiership owner by dropping four players, with Tavernier and Raskin the most high profile.
The new Ibrox boss - who hit out at 'egos' and 'some players jogging around' following the Fir Park draw - was rewarded with a 3-0 win over Czech side Viktoria Plzen in the first leg of their Champions League third round qualifier.
Ibrox legend Souness reckons Martin was setting down a marker by reading the riot act and walking the talk with his starting line up for the huge Euro clash and told how it's something Stein did with him and Kenny Dalglish when he was manager of Scotland.
Souness said of Martin's comments: 'I know he was upset by the performance at the weekend and he's put a marker down very quickly that his is not acceptable and this is how it should be.
'He went after the more experienced players, leaving the captain out, and I liken it to when I was captain of Scotland and I worked under Jock Stein.
'Jock Stein would always pick out Kenny (Dalglish) and I. He left the younger guys alone and made the point 'if I can get after them, I don't need to speak to the younger ones because that message has already got to them'.
'There's nothing wrong with that. He's said 'this is my level and nothing other than my level is acceptable'.
'It's what Jock Stein would have done - it's what he did to me, it's what he did to Kenny. He's putting a marker down that these are my standards and what better time to do it than after 90 minutes.'
