There was a degree of discussion at first over whether Russell Martin’s official job title at Rangers was head coach or manager.
In light of recent events, it does not seem unreasonable to speculate that he is now filling another, entirely different role — board stooge.
The whole business of why this 39-year-old bloke, looking progressively more out of his depth and clearly regarded as such by a fanbase that could hardly to do more to make him leave, is still in position at Ibrox has been exercising even the sharpest minds of late.
Football tends to work in predictable ways, after all. Guy goes into major club expected to win titles and has multi-millions spent on the squad under his watch. Team ends up worse than ever, can’t defend, struggle to create, blow up in Europe and find themselves two points above the relegation zone with pretty much every supporter baying for his blood.
We’ve all been watching the game long enough to know what happens next, right?
Yet, at Rangers, Martin carries on regardless, blaming dismal performances on the players’ ‘mentality’ or their ‘anxiety’ or anything else that suits. As exhibited after the shambolic midweek loss to Sturm Graz in the Europa League, there’s no way it’s ever going to come down to his tactical approach or what’s going on at the training ground. Or those above him in the pecking order, for that matter.
Martin suffers on the touchline in Austria as Rangers endured yet another away-day failure
Chief executive Stewart and sporting director Thelwell have much to answer for in this mess
Fans have made their feelings clear on Martin and Stewart; now Thelwell can expect the same
Let it be said here and now that the abuse Martin is receiving on a weekly basis, with punters chanting for his head at every match no matter the result, is unlike anything many of us have witnessed in years of going to games.
The only thing that tops it in terms of ‘Wow Factor’ is his unshakable confidence in the face of it all. It really is quite incredible to witness from a Rangers manager with a record of five wins in 16 matches and begs the question: How can anyone remain so sure of themselves when everyone outside the tent knows it’s Game Over?
An old chum with a keen knowledge of football offered an interesting opinion the other night. He reckons Martin is so comfortable, so secure, because he is proving to be an effective shield, a flak jacket, for those above him in this bemusing operation.
He allows the board, so goes the reasoning, to do what they want, run the place as they choose, because he’s the focus for all the anger and dissatisfaction over the way Rangers are still failing to function despite the US takeover that brought such short-lived positivity in summer. His being there suits them. For now.
He’s the one being told to go where the sun don’t shine. He’s the one getting pelters coming off the team bus. He’s the one put up in front of the cameras umpteen times a week to get it in the neck.
It seems incredible to think that might be why he’s still in position, but can it be ruled out?
Martin has at least displayed remarkable courage to face up to all the flak flying his way
It couldn’t possibly have been the plan at the start, for sure. The board must have felt the former Southampton boss had something in his armoury that might work in Scottish football. However, now it’s painfully evident that he doesn’t, straightforward, rational reasons for his continued employment are really, really difficult to come by.
He says he is witnessing great progress behind doors with his players, but it isn’t translating to games. That first half against Sturm Graz was abysmal. You cannot put forward the fact you played quite well in patches away to newly promoted Livingston — a win that still had to be pulled out of the fire by a goal in time added-on — as some kind of significant building block.
What’s being served up on the pitch is unacceptable. And there are more and more questions being asked about what’s going on off it as well.
Sporting director Kevin Thelwell bringing in his 26-year-old son Robbie as head of recruitment is starting to feel like the final straw. He’d already helped hire former Everton colleague Dan Purdy as technical director. Another former Toffees’ employee in Nathan Fisher is arriving as head scout.
Meanwhile, ex-cop Jim Liggett is about to be appointed as chief operating officer on an interim basis. He was at Manchester United with CEO Patrick Stewart.
Thelwell faced up to open hostility from fans in a hotel lobby following the Graz defeat
Is this how recruitment should look at a serious club? Former colleagues and people’s kids landing top jobs? Are these arrivals representative of a rigorous process?
Even if they are, and these guys are the best available options, don’t those at the top of the tree see how this is playing? That it’s only infuriating a fanbase that has already seen more than enough.
Let’s not even get into some of the transfer business. The decision to give Everton £8million for 21-year-old Youssef Chermiti, who flopped on Merseyside and hasn’t looked any great shakes in Glasgow, has had folk scratching their heads since it was announced.
As should the signing of centre-back Manny Fernandez from Peterborough for upwards of £2m, a bloke who still can’t get near the team when it is conceding goals left, right and centre.
Taking all this into account, there’s a strong argument to be made that the fury within the Rangers support should no longer be directed purely at Martin. That it should be moving more towards those who appointed him and are keeping him in position.
There was evidence of a shift in attitude midweek, mind you, with the footage of Thelwell and Stewart being pulled up by fans in the team hotel after the Graz game.
Graz star Horvat scores another all-too-easy goal past Butland as a woeful season continued
Whether you feel those involved overstepped a line or not, you have to understand the reality of this situation. It is inevitable this will happen when supporters, paying through the nose, cannot make head or tail of what’s going on at their club or what the plan is.
Martin defending the powerbase on an interview with Sky Sports yesterday isn’t likely to calm things either.
‘I think everything is just heightened, not just in football, but in the UK at the moment. These people — Patrick, the owners, myself — they really care about building something here and have a really clear plan, so to be judged on it so early for everyone is frustrating and difficult.
‘We have to accept people aren’t happy, but I think there are ways to air that and view that.
‘I don’t think it it shouldn’t ever become personal. We just have to win football matches to sort of placate that and calm that down.’
What chairman Andrew Cavenagh sees as the solution remains unclear. The Philadelphia-based healthcare tycoon has not been heard for a while. And that’s creating uncertainty too.
Chairman Andrew Cavenagh has been especially quiet on the small matter of the club manager
Did he and 49ers Enterprises underestimate the job that needed done here? Do they ‘get it’? Are Rangers just part of a portfolio rather than the primary focus? Are the club’s US owners really keeping a keen enough eye on the senior management team assembled at Ibrox?
Martin will carry on being the man pushed out to address these questions. He’ll stick to a script already becoming tiresome. He’ll take the blows and keep telling himself, and the world, that ‘it is what it is’.
That’s only going to hold for so long, though. What happened in that hotel in Austria a few days ago will have appealed to most Rangers fans rather than appalled them.
Martin staying in situ is now so ridiculous and unfathomable that it’s almost past debate. It’s why the guys upstairs, the Stewarts and the Thelwells and the rest of them, ought to see this as only the start of being asked, in no uncertain terms, what on earth they’re up to.
