RUSSELL MARTIN is quite correct to state that outside noise should be blocked out, as much as possible, from the work he does with his staff and players inside their Auchenhowie training centre.
How committed the Rangers head coach is to that ethos, though, has to be open to question given his admission he’s been in touch with Andy Halliday in the wake of his former Ibrox team-mate’s midweek takedown of his tactics on a podcast to set him straight on the matter of using inverted full-backs. Or not using them, as the case may be.
Listen, you’re either bothered about what people say outside the tent or you’re not. And if you’re an Old Firm manager, especially, you can’t be.
A thick skin, selective hearing and an ability to keep an emotional distance from media – social and otherwise – are absolute non-negotiables in this day and age.
Martin insists he is fine with people expressing opinions on the game and that’s good, if true, because it’s going to happen whether you like it or not.
Rangers manager Russell Martin is under scrutiny after a poor start to his reign
Dunded drew 1-1 at Ibrox thanks to Ryan Astley’s second-half header
At clubs such as Rangers and Celtic, everything is analysed to the nth degree. Parkhead manager Brendan Rodgers even joked on TV on Friday night about the fact his failure to wear a tie at Pittodrie last weekend engendered comment – when everyone missed the fact he wasn’t sporting his infamous Gucci belt.
Where Martin has an issue, though, is that what goes on at Auchenhowie is only a small part of the very large and complex puzzle he currently has to fix. It wins you no points when the end result of that work, the bit that takes place on the pitch in front of paying spectators, is as substandard as it has been of late. Take the case of Kieran Dowell as an example.
Martin came out after last weekend’s 1-1 home draw with Dundee to issue a public defence of the much-maligned midfielder. Great guy, respected within the dressing-room, works like a beast in training.
Yes, that’s all very good. None of it matters, however, to Joe or Josephine Public paying their 800 wrappers a year for a season ticket. They see a guy who was jettisoned from the building last season now back in the fold as a member of the ‘senior leadership team’ yet showing nothing to suggest he is, in any way, worthy of a place in the side.
What he’s like at the training ground is completely irrelevant to them. And what they think about what they are seeing from him was made clear in the 56th minute of that Dundee game when he replaced Mohamed Diomande.
The boos were deafening. Almost as loud as the jeering reserved for Martin when he took off Lyall Cameron for Nico Raskin seconds earlier. Truth be told, the general atmosphere inside Ibrox last Saturday was dark and angry and ominous.
And what proved surprising to this particular observer was just how much of the unhappiness and rancour was directed at Martin himself.
There’s no scientific way to measure this. No way to be sure of where the needle on the barometer exactly rests. However, it does seem safe to say that a very, very sizeable section of the Rangers support are against this guy already and are not scared to make that clear.
Martin can talk all he likes about keeping outside noise away from the closed gates of Auchenhowie, that sterile environment in a peaceful, country setting just outside leafy Milngavie, while he works on embedding a new style and culture.
If he can’t stop Ibrox turning toxic the way it did during that shambolic performance against Dundee, he’s not going to make it.
Martin has defended midfielder Dowell after he was booed by fans at Ibrox
Rangers impressed against Plzen but have otherwise struggled in recent games
The noise inside that old ground cannot be blocked out. It can’t be ignored. It makes or breaks people. Tests their mettle. And, more importantly, it forces the hands of decisionmakers. Eventually. No matter how hard they try to resist.
Like it or not, this is the reality of where Martin is right now. He’s skating on thin ice. What Rangers fans are watching from his side is nowhere near acceptable. At times, it has been insanely awful.
The three-goal win over a badly limited Viktoria Plzen at home offered a tantalising glimpse of what might be. The rest of it – last night’s cup win over League One Alloa notwithstanding – has been grim.
In domestic games against Motherwell and Dundee, two teams widely expected to end up in the bottom six, Rangers have been sliced wide open at will over and over again. Too much of the game, from their perspective, is spent coughing up possession, playing needless passes into silly places.
Not zippy or penetrative enough to get behind teams defending for their lives, they end up vulnerable on the counter. It’s been rotten so far and, the more it goes on like this, the more the support are putting Martin in the crosshairs.
For whatever reason, he wasn’t a popular appointment and knew he had to hit the ground running. He hasn’t.
Martin looks on as his side toil against Motherwell in their first league game of the season
During his Friday briefing for the media, he spoke about an unnamed member of the maintenance team talking about how ‘we’re turning a tanker round… and it will just take some time.’
Unfortunately, time is no longer on his side. The maintenance man chat just came across as a slightly clumsy way to ask for patience, putting the words in the mouth of someone else. Rangers are running a wage bill equivalent to the GDP of a small country with a squad list resembling the population of one.
If you can’t beat Motherwell and Dundee, no matter where you are in your Great Reset, you’re in bother. And you can’t pretend otherwise to punters paying through the nose to watch.
The US-based consortium running Rangers went through an extensive recruitment process before hiring Martin. They will absolutely want to give him all the time he needs to sort things out. If they back their judgment, that means at least one full season. Probably more.
Rangers welcome league champions Celtic to Ibrox on August 31
Everyone knows that’s not how football works, though. Certainly not here. If the customer base really has reached breaking point, that makes its way up the chain and triggers get pulled.
Creating the right kind of space at the training ground for focused work is a big thing for Martin, but it’s a small cog in the wheel. Getting Ibrox back on an even keel is infinitely more important and it doesn’t help that the next two matches there involve Club Brugge and Celtic.
Failing to make the Champions League proper need not be a disaster as long as a clever and nippy Brugge side don’t run riot. Losing to Celtic, though, and slipping further behind in the league will be an issue if it comes with the general standard of performance Rangers have been delivering since the new boss came through the door.
Keeping Auchenhowie serene yet serious won’t matter a jot if Ibrox has turned into a mental Molotov cocktail of anger and invective by the end of the month. And right now, that looks very, very possible.
Thelin’s Dons are in dire need of a spark
MARKO LAZETIC has been on the radar at Aberdeen long enough.
With his transfer from AC Milan now looking like it’s about to go through, Dons fans had better hope the 21-year-old Serbian striker can solve their problems up front – because there are already some red flags flying over the Pittodrie outfit this season.
Manager Jimmy Thelin bought himself plenty of breathing space last May when he got his tactics spot-on in the Scottish Cup final and saw off Celtic in a penalty shoot-out.
However, that can only last so long and there hasn’t been much to shout about since the new campaign got under way.
Kusini Yengi has made a slow start to his Aberdeen career after moving from Portsmouth
Yes, Hearts away and Celtic at home was a fiendish start. Yes, it’s hardly a hanging offence that they lost both games. However, the two matches brought just three shots on target and summer arrival Kusini Yengi is already in the line of fire.
Lazetic, despite his inexperience, will bring competition at centre-forward and there’s no question Thelin and his team need to start getting points on the board soon.
Following last term’s collapse in the Premiership from November onwards, Aberdeen’s current league record stands at five wins from 29 games. Naturally, it cannot go on like that.
Of course, the focus this week will switch to the Europa League qualifier with Steaua Bucharest. The truth is, it doesn’t really matter in the grand scheme of things. Aberdeen would probably be better dropping off into the Conference League, where they might be a little more competitive, anyway.
No, the really big game on the horizon for the Reds takes place after their second leg in Romania. August 31. Falkirk at home. Fail to win that and Thelin will very definitely be back under the cosh.
Never trust anyone during a transfer window
JUST about a month ago, we sat in the press room at Celtic Park with Newcastle manager Eddie Howe and heard him give the distinct impression that the absence of Alexander Isak from his squad for a pre-season friendly was no big deal.
Isak just wasn’t ready to play. He was training and was fine. The reason he wasn’t at the ground? As he wasn’t in the team, he got the day off because of speculation surrounding his future. Simple.
‘All I can say is that Alex is happy at Newcastle,’ said Howe. ‘He loves the players he plays with, the staff, the team and I’ve never had any issue with him. I’m confident he’s going to be here at the start of the season.’
Newcastle boss Eddie Howe said striker Alexander Isak wanted to stay at the club
Howe also stated that he expected Isak to be part of the club’s tour of Singapore and South Korea.
Of course, Isak didn’t travel. He went back to former Real Sociedad for a bit during pre-season and is now training alone. He was excluded from a training-ground barbecue and his rental home has since gone on the market.
He’s now effectively on strike, trying to force through a move to Anfield. Talk about things escalating quickly.
It’s a story that plays out regularly during transfer windows, though, and is worth bearing in mind as the current one works towards its climax.
Whatever club it is, whatever manager it is and whatever player they are talking about, whether a transfer in or a transfer out, take everything anyone says with a football pitch-sized pinch of salt.
