(Credit: Getty Images, Imago)

Charlie Grace

Wed 1 October 2025 7:00, UK

Russell Martin‘s Rangers 15-game tenure has left the fans irate and demanding blood.

A last-gasp Max Aarons goal gave Rangers the win over Livingston, their first in the Scottish Premiership under Martin.

But Martin is under increasing scrutiny from Rangers fans, and every week the negativity grows with Ibrox becoming increasingly toxic.

Steven Gerrard returning to Rangers is one of the widest spread rumours as Martin gets closer to the sack in Glasgow despite that win.

History suggests Rangers must be patient with Russell Martin

The greatest cliche going suggests football is a results business, and in the modern era, that sentiment has never been more prevalent.

However, should the 49ers’ enterprise block out the noise around Martin and stick by the man they hired in the summer, history suggests it will deliver better long-term results.

During his time at Southampton, Martin won three of his opening eight Championship games, drawing one and losing four.

Those four losses came in succession, scoring only twice and conceding 12 times, but what followed was remarkable.

Martin’s Southampton went on a 22-match unbeaten run in the Championship, a run that extends to 25 games in all competitions.

Across his first 15 games at Ibrox, Martin has won five games, drawn five and lost five, a near-identical record to his first 15 games at Southampton, where he lost five, drew three and won seven games.

If Rangers can be patient, the results that sticking with Martin, who has only lost once in the league to league leaders Hearts, could bring may be better than they could imagine.

Kevin Thomson suggests Rangers owners won’t be ‘pushed around’

The sentiments of patience were echoed by former Rangers midfielder Kevin Thomson, who spoke to The Scotsman about Martin.

Thomson said: “Am I surprised that the board hasn’t made a change? Not really, because the owners are billionaires, they’re not going to be influenced if they think they’ve done the right thing. They didn’t become the successful people they are by being pushed around.

“But the bottom line is the Rangers fanbase is very powerful, and when you have thousands of people outside Ibrox protesting or the lowest attendance for a lot of years at a European game, people have to take notice.

“You quickly lose money. People always told me guys as successful as this are usually so instinctive and when things go wrong, they change it quickly,” Thomson continued.

“So far, you could argue that hasn’t been the case because I think if you asked the majority of Rangers fans, they would want to see Russell and his staff go.

“Hopefully, they can try to turn the tide and get some sort of run going – I say this through humanity. If the next hiccup is just around the corner, then I’d fear the worst might happen,” Thomson finished.