Celtic legend defends Russell Martin for one key reason after Rangers sack
Russell Martin may have had a tough time at Rangers for one key reason as he has been defended by a legend at their fierce rivals Celtic.
After just 123 days, Rangers sacked Martin with the club suffering a woeful start to the season which leaves them in eighth place in the Scottish Premiership table during the international break.
The search for Martin’s successor has begun with Steven Gerrard tipped to return to Rangers, with Sean Dyche out of the running to arrive at Ibrox.
The next Rangers boss also needs to ensure they recover in the Europa League having lost their opening two league phase fixtures following their elimination from the Champions League.
Changing managers won’t guarantee change in results warns Martin O’Neill
As per the Daily Record [9 October], former Celtic manager Martin O’Neill believes the Rangers squad is currently not good enough to win the league, no matter who the manager is in the dugout.
“I’m obviously gonna take a managerial viewpoint here because sometimes just changing the manager doesn’t necessarily mean that progress will be made immediately,” O’Neill said.
“You might have that new-manager-coming-in-effect for a game or two. What you have to do is look at this here and think ‘this is the problem’.
“You have to look at Rangers, you have to look at the squad, you have to look at recruitment. You have to look at the sort of players they’re bringing into the football club.
“The truth is this here, from a distance, the team is definitely not strong enough. There’s no question about that.
“They’re not strong enough to sustain a challenge. By that I mean against Celtic, which they played earlier on in the season and the draw.
“Yes, you can compete in that particular game, but then can you go away from home on a Wednesday evening and win? Can you travel north? Can you go and win at Easter Road? Can you win at Tynecastle? Can you win up Aberdeen on a cold, blowy night? Things like this.
“That side that Rangers have had now definitely do not. They can’t sustain the course.”
Martin made 11 signings for the club in the summer, with Mikey Moore criticised by Rangers fans for his performance against Falkirk, with Thelo Aasgaard receiving similar reviews by supporters.
Steven Gerrard would inherit confidence hit squad
If Gerrard, the favourite to return to Rangers for a second spell in charge, the former Liverpool captain would be inheriting a squad devoid of confidence.
Rangers have won just five just times all season, and already look unlikely to win a 56th Scottish Premiership title, with an 11 point gap between them and Hearts.
| Matches Played | 7 |
| Goals per match | 0.9 |
| Goals Conceded per match | 1.0 |
| Clean Sheets | 1 |
Gerrard would welcome two home matches to begin his second spell, with Dundee United and Kilmarnock at Ibrox providing a good opportunity to get wins on the board.
Goal scoring is an issue though with just six goals scored in seven matches, with Gerrard having to get the best out of Bojan Miovski who proved at Aberdeen he knows where the net is in Scotland.