There comes a time when anger gives way to apathy and disillusionment starts to morph into disinterest.
You sensed we’d reached that point on the walk up to Ibrox on Thursday evening. The surrounding streets were unusually quiet, business for the stallholders was slow, there was no excited chatter among those decked out in Rangers’ colours.
As kick-off neared, you felt compelled to check the front of the match programme to see if you’d mistakenly arrived too early. On paper, this was another auspicious European match. It didn’t feel anything like it.
The official attendance of 37,898 confirmed that 13,802 seats had been left empty. Against Hibernian at the weekend, just 34,682 fans had been present.
Thousands of supporters, clearly, have now decided they have better things to do with their leisure time than watch Russell Martin’s side labour for an hour and a half.
You can hardly blame them. There’s scarcely a trace of faith left in this manager and his project.
Patience has run out amongst the Rangers support following a dismal start to the season
Russell Martin insists the team are on the right track despite suffering another loss midweek
Thursday’s Europa League defeat against Genk was the latest in a long line of poor results
‘Coming into the stadium tonight, you could have blown me away,’ said club legend Ally McCoist. ‘It was nothing like a normal atmosphere of any game, never mind a European game here at Ibrox.
‘There was an apathy, there was no life about the place actually, on or off the pitch, which is really, really concerning.’
By the end of another torturous episode, the number of die-hards who’ve now seen enough will have swollen considerably.
Martin’s side delivered another wholly inadequate show which could be bracketed along with so many games this season. The ponderous build-up. Insufficient guile to fashion clear-cut chances.
An opponent cutting through them at will. For the second successive European match, ill-discipline also cost them.
There was again rancour in the air at full-time, but the truth was that most who’d made the effort to come in the first place were on their way to their cars and buses by that then. They must feel ground down by what they are seeing and what they are hearing.
The manager’s sound bites in the media room afterwards made you question if you’d been watching the same game.
Martin claimed his side ‘looked a threat’ when they’d managed just two shots on target all night. He insisted that Genk ‘didn’t cut us open’.
Former Celtic striker Oh Hyeon-gyu scored the winner to heap more pressure on Martin
The visitors had 13 attempts at goal. Oh Hyeon-gyu, the former Celtic striker, scored once yet could easily have netted four or five times.
‘There were some really good performances,’ Martin reflected. To whom was he referring? Jack Butland, John Souttar and Djeidi Gassama got pass marks.
The rest were distinctly average or down-right awful. By and large, his summer signings don’t look up to the task.
Martin also contended that he was ‘proud of our efforts’. Bluntly, not many others in the arena saw it that way.
Typically bullish, he then claimed: ‘We’ll get there.’ Right now, it’s clear that Rangers are only going backwards under him.
He made much of the dismissal of Mohamed Diomande for a woeful challenge on Zakaria El Ouahdi just before the interval.
Having seen a replay, he had no quibble with the decision itself, but his attempt to bill the flashpoint as a turning point in the match cut no ice.
Rangers were poor with 11 men on the park and didn’t do enough to mitigate against playing a man light in the second period.
The hosts were dealt a blow when Mohamed Diomande was shown a red card in the first half
‘When it was 11 v 11, Genk still had opportunities in the match,’ said former striker Kris Boyd. ‘The better of the chances, shall I say.
‘We’ve seen it in the past where teams are down to 10 men and they make it difficult for teams. They can frustrate. They’re hard to break down. It’s totally the opposite with this Rangers side.’
These are the grimmest of times down Ibrox way. After 14 competitive matches, Rangers are second bottom of the Premiership and have failed to win two games on the bounce this season.
It’s not just droves of supporters who are completely underwhelmed by what’s being routinely served up. Even with their blue-tinted glasses on, celebrated former players see absolutely no evidence of tangible progress.
‘The man (Martin) is in big trouble because something has to change and something has to change dramatically,’ added McCoist. ‘And on the current evidence, sadly, I can’t see it happening.’
You feel you’d need to knock on an awful lot of doors in Govan to come across someone who does. Significantly, though, a few of the small number of people who are seeing something which gives them reason to believe happen to own the club.
Chairman Andrew Cavenagh looked beneath the bonnet during his week-long stay in Scotland. He saw those swathes of empty seats at two matches and heard more jeers of derision towards the man he appointed on Thursday night.
Yet he returned to the USA on his private jet with Martin still in charge on the back of a meeting which the manager claimed was ‘nothing unusual’.
Chairman Andrew Cavenagh was in the stands on Thursday and heard the jeers at full-time
Everything about this situation is highly unusual. The manager’s start has been nothing short of abysmal, the depths he’s plumbed are far greater than the lows of previous incumbents. Still he remains in situ.
Loyalty is an admirable trait. There’s precious little of it around in football these days. But blind faith is another matter altogether. The hierarchy at Rangers appears to be doubling-down on their gamble when it’s evident they need to own up to making a serious error of judgment.
Until they reconcile themselves with the reality of the situation, they’ll continue to pay a price for the state of inertia they have facilitated.
Asked about the flat atmosphere at Ibrox, Boyd added: ‘Andrew Cavenagh has never experienced that. He has experienced Rangers playing in Europe and seen and heard what European nights can be at Ibrox and on the road.
‘But, on Thursday, he’s got to be sitting asking himself, is this what he wants as a Rangers chairman?
‘The fans have totally finished. They feel as if it’s time up anyway. Rangers keep losing games of football. Right now, the disconnect from the stands onto the pitch and beyond is as bad as I’ve ever seen.’
