When Rangers were weighing up the credentials of all the contenders for their managerial vacancy, it was clear that Russell Martin ticked a lot of boxes.
A talented and progressive young coach with a clear style of play? Check. Someone who knows the club and has experience of Scottish football? Check. Someone with a track record of improving and developing young players? Yep. Someone who is articulate, intelligent, and a natural leader? Again, check.
Clearly, there’s a lot to like about Martin. If he is appointed Rangers’ next manager, as is now widely expected, he brings a lot of attributes to the table.
But there’s also one major issue which can’t be overlooked or downplayed. Something which could be brutally exposed in the unforgiving landscape of managerial life in Glasgow.
When you strip it all back and watch the style of football his teams have played at MK Dons, Swansea and, latterly, Southampton, Martin is an idealist.
His devotion to possession-based football is absolute. He will not compromise his beliefs. He will stick to his principles regardless of results.
Russell Martin’s devotion to possession-based football as a manager has been absolute
Martin was a Rangers player and will already know that the pressures and demands as Ibrox boss will exceed anything else he has encountered
Martin took Southampton into the Premier League but the adventure proved short-lived for both the club and manager
Such unwavering belief in his own methods is admirable, but it’s not difficult to envisage a scenario where it could unravel quickly at Rangers if things were to go wrong.
Especially since a fair amount of fans seem to view this as a slightly underwhelming appointment. If Martin does land the job, his first task will be to win over the sceptics and naysayers.
Listen, he is not naive. He will already know that the demands and pressures of this job will be far more extreme than anything he has encountered previously.
That’s no slight on his previous clubs. It’s just reality.
When Martin got his first crack at management with MK Dons in 2019, it proved to be a baptism of fire as he lost his first four matches in charge.
If he were ever to lose four matches on the bounce at Rangers, he would find himself in a full-blown crisis and clinging on to his job. That’s the Old Firm for you.
It’s worth reflecting on Martin’s words from an interview in 2023, when he was asked about his shaky start to life in the dugout.
‘I’d said to the players from the off, though, that we weren’t going to be outcome-based,’ he said. ‘We weren’t going to focus on the results. We were going to focus on each step, each game, getting closer to the team we wanted to be. Yes, we needed to stay in the league – I think we were 21st or 22nd when we took over – but it was also about our identity.
Martin previously said that his teams were ‘always going to set out with that vision, that utopia of where you want to get to’.
His approach paid dividends at Southampton when they were promoted to the top flight in 2024
Russell took the English Championship by storm, but will his ideas work north of the border?
‘My teams are always going to set out with that vision, that utopia of where you want to get to. I want them to dominate the ball. I really don’t like it when the opposition have the ball for very long.’
Building an identity and a style of play is fine. But talking about a ‘utopia’ and how things can’t be ‘outcome-based’ won’t wash at a club like Rangers. Fans don’t want to hear it.
Philippe Clement found that to his cost when he started banging on about how a 2-1 defeat at Pittodrie last October had, in actual fact, been one of Rangers’ best performances of the season.
In the end, much of what the Belgian said in public sounded utterly delusional. In that respect, Martin would do well to take note of some of the mistakes made by his predecessor.
While Clement failed to implement any clear style of play throughout his tenure, the same is unlikely to be said of Martin as and when he takes the reins.
Rangers will dominate the ball and suffocate teams. Playing out from the back will become non-negotiable. As always with teams like that, there will be a few scary moments along the way and probably a few mistakes.
There’s a section of the Rangers fanbase who will be underwhelmed by Martin’s appointment. They see a long and extensive search for a new manager that has led them to a guy who has been out of work for six months.
A guy who was on course to lead Southampton to the ignominious title of being the worst team in Premier League history by the time he was sacked last December.
Martin would have to make a good start at Rangers to convince fans he is the right man
Martin would do well to take note of the mistakes made by his predecessor as permanent boss, Philippe Clement
Supporters will be hoping he is the manager who can finally transform the club’s fortunes
That’s not entirely fair. Listening to people connected with Saints over the past week or so since Martin’s name has emerged, the club’s main failure was in recruitment last summer.
Martin simply didn’t have good enough players to implement his style of play in the Premier League. That was the long and short of it.
Some Rangers fans also look back at Martin’s disappointing loan spell as a player at Ibrox in 2018 and hold it against him.
That’s irrelevant. You can’t judge someone’s credentials as manager on the basis of a short stint at the fag-end of their career when they were playing in one of the worst Rangers teams in living memory.
In that infamous 2017-18 season, which encompassed the managerial reigns of Pedro Caixinha, Graeme Murty, and Jimmy Nicholl, did any Rangers players really cover themselves in glory?
So, even though Rangers fans will have unimpressive memories of Russell Martin the player, that should not cloud their judgment of Russell Martin the manager.
If things go well and he hits the ground running, he could well be the bright young coach who helps modernise Rangers and drags the club kicking and screaming into the 21st century.
If he doesn’t make a fast start, those naysayers will only grow louder and larger in number. Accusations that he’s an idealist who is ill-suited to the demands of a club like Rangers will become hard to ignore.
If it becomes tippy-tappy football, possession for possession’s sake, he won’t last long. But, right now, Rangers and their new American investors clearly feel he’s the best man for the job.
Martin has impressed them with his vision and his modern, progressive style of play. Along with the fact he has operated at the top level as a manager in the English Premier League, that’s why it looks like he’s been given the nod ahead of a rookie in Davide Ancelotti.
However, life in the Glasgow goldfish bowl tends to be black and white. There are no grey areas. In the fullness of time, Martin will either be hailed as a visionary, or ridiculed as a romanticist.
At a club like Rangers, everything is ‘outcome-based’. You either win trophies or you are deemed a failure. Those are the parameters against which Martin will now be judged.
King’s claim that he played starring role in takeover is a royal pain
Barely a day goes by without seeing Dave King pop up somewhere on his grand crusade to tell everyone about his starring role in the Rangers takeover.
It’s been quite the PR drive from the former Ibrox chairman. He regards the deal with the Americans as his ‘legacy’, a term he has used repeatedly.
Over the years, King has had plenty of cheerleaders in the media and the pom-poms have been on full display in recent days.
Dave King’s role in US takeover at Rangers was minimal in the grand scheme of things
His relentless desire to take centre stage and portray himself as some kind of saviour or guardian angel is nauseating.
In the grand scheme of things, King’s role in the takeover was minimal.
It was Andy Mason and Les Allan, two Scots who work in property and finance and have connections to the Gulf States and the US, who set the wheels in motion.
After initial contact had been made with Andrew Cavenagh, it was Paul Murray who then took the deal to King, the club’s largest single shareholder, and alerted him to the possibility of investment.
In a nutshell, that’s how the whole deal came to be. The deal essentially fell into King’s lap. Why he is seeking to position himself as some kind of saviour is a bizarre business.
Truth be told, most Rangers fans will be glad to see the back of him. He is an egomaniac who has fuelled controversy and division throughout the boardroom over recent years.
Losing Venter is fine, but only if homegrown hopefuls are worthy of promotion
In an ideal world, Glasgow Warriors would extend Henco Venter’s contract.
The South African back-rower is an excellent player and has been a fans’ favourite at Scotstoun.
But the decision to let him go was taken out of the club’s hands.
Franco Smith wanted to keep him and made no secret of that desire in his dealings with the SRU.
This is a decision which has come right from the very top, however, and is reflective of a new strategy.
Glasgow Warriors fans will be sorry to see the talented and popular Henco Venter leave the club
One that is geared around the promotion of young Scottish talent ahead of foreign imports.
Broadly speaking, it’s an approach which pretty much everyone connected with Scottish rugby would support.
Of course we want to see more young homegrown players coming through the pipeline and being given a chance at Glasgow and Edinburgh.
Only if the talent is there, though, and the players have earned their chance. There is no sense in binning proven operators like Venter if there is nothing in reserve.
That would only weaken Glasgow. It would be counter-productive.
Addressing the lack of young homegrown players is a key part of the remit facing SRU performance director David Nucifora.
Cutting back on foreign imports is fine, if Nucifora can prove that Scotland has the depth of young talent who warrant a promotion.
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