Only if you happened to have been living in a cave for the past four months could this outcome possibly have come as a surprise.
Rangers began this season under Russell Martin looking feeble, vulnerable and rudderless. As the shop shelves started to become stocked with Christmas decorations, absolutely nothing had changed.
There comes a point when owners can talk about long-term plans and the need for patience all they want. But as they saw this latest excuse for a performance unfold and watched their manager leave under a police escort, even they will have realised the game was up.
Truthfully, they should have known he was done for weeks ago.
What turned out to be the 39-year-old’s final game in charge didn’t end in defeat, but it might well have done.
Rangers were second best yet again here. The only team that was entitled to nurse a sense of injustice by time up was the Premiership’s new boys.
Russell Martin turned out to be drinking in the last-chance saloon at Falkirk on Sunday
The Rangers players walk away in anguish after Henry Cartwright equalises for the Bairns
It’s nearly all over for Russell Martin as his team struggle to a 1-1 draw in Falkirk
Falkirk were brave, inventive and unfortunate to be a goal down at the break. They were never out of this. Yet again under Martin, Rangers did not have the wit to put a team away.
The final whistle brought some familiar sights and sounds. The visiting manager went straight up the tunnel. His players took a couple of steps towards their pocket of supporters and were met by a tidal wave of fury.
‘Sacked in the morning,’ was the cry from every side of the ground. We’ve heard it across the land as the nights have drawn in. This time, they were on the money.
Those among the away support who believed matters could only get better after another capitulation in Graz were proven wrong. Their side managed just two shots on target all afternoon. It was another lamentable display which, bluntly, was ill-deserving of any tangible reward.
For their followers, Rangers on the road have become extremely tough to watch. The run of games away from Ibrox without a clean sheet now incredibly stands at 23. Clearly, not all of that was on Martin. But when there’s not a trace of evidence to suggest that a manager can address that, there’s only ever one outcome.
What a state the Ibrox side are in as he makes for the exit with a severance cheque. They’ve won just one league match this season and sit 11 points behind Hearts and nine behind Celtic. Aberdeen, the Premiership’s bottom side, are only four points behind them.
Whoever is next to fill the hot seat faces a gargantuan task just to restore a degree of credibility.
Quite why Falkirk were trailing to Bojan Miovski’s goal at the break was a complete mystery.
Bojan Miovski had given Rangers hope with the first goal of the match after 41 minutes
Miovski ‘shooshes’ fans after the opener but his joy turned out to be short-lived
Cartwright scores a screamer of a goal to make it 1-1 at the Falkirk Stadium on Sunday
Full credit to John McGlynn’s players thereafter, though. To a man, they were outstanding. The equalising goal they got through substitute Henry Cartwright was the least they deserved.
Martin would have demanded that none of the elementary errors which pockmarked his side’s display in Graz were again on display. Some hope.
Within the opening five minutes, Nico Raskin had tripped over the ball at the expense of a corner, Joe Rothwell had run it out of play and John Souttar had twice turned it over.
Any prospect of some quick relief for the visitors vanished when Mikey Moore was adjudged to have strayed offside before Djeidi Gassama lashed home from close range.
Falkirk controlled so much of the contest, threatening any time they turned their opponents with a diagonal over the top.
Ross MacIver attempted to capitalise on one such opening, seeing his shot repelled. Kyrell Wilson dragged the rebound narrowly beyond the far post.
The passing between the home side was crisp, accurate and purposeful. All they lacked was a better final ball.
Rangers just didn’t settle. When Nasser Djiga fired a six-yard pass at Raskin, Ethan Williams pounced on the Belgian’s poor control. His strike flashed just wide of the upright.
Sub Henry Cartwright, second from right, is congratulated by team-mates after his leveller
Russell Martin tries to get his message across during another dire Rangers performance
Rangers fans showed they wanted Martin out, and they would later be granted their wish
Although James Tavernier rifled a strike narrowly wide, his side struggled to make any headway. It said much that the visitors’ best openings came when the Bairns twice overplayed as they tried to build from the back.
From the first whistle to the last, Rangers struggled to link the play. Moore, in particular, was culpable down the right. All too often, the on-loan Tottenham forward was simply brushed off the ball.
If Rangers were going to create something, it was bound to come down the other flank. And four minutes from the interval, their first cohesive move brought the opener.
Rothwell took his side up the park with an energetic burst into a vacant area. He played in Gassama who picked out Derek Cornelius.
Advanced from his left-back role, the Canadian’s cross had pace and accuracy. Miovski was on his toes and bundled the ball home from three yards out.
Aside from that one lapse in concentration, McGlynn could not have asked for much more from his players in the opening period. They didn’t change their approach much, believing it would fashion more openings.
The introduction of Alfredo Agyeman, their jet-heeled right winger, just after the hour mark, gave them a new dimension.
His first burst on the flank left Cornelius in the starting blocks. His cross picked out Calvin Miller. Tavernier got a telling touch to prevent the goal being threatened.
Russell Martin cut a lonely figure as he prepared to walk down tunnel as Rangers boss for last time
Martin’s reign appeared almost doomed from the start, with many Rangers fans not happy with his appointment
Agyeman’s next delivery caught Jack Butland back-pedalling. MacIver kept his eye on the ball only to see his header drift just wide. As is usually the case these days, there remained a fragility about Rangers.
Cartwright would have sensed it when he climbed off the bench. He demanded the ball in tight areas, passed and probed. And when he and fellow substitute Mohamed Diomande contested a 50/50, there was only one winner.
Having outmuscled his opponent, Cartwright took three touches to advance then let fly. Butland may not have got it anyway. A slight deflection off Souttar gave him no chance.
As in Graz, as in so many games, Martin threw on sub after sub to the point where you could no longer discern what the game plan was. With the visitors gambling and leaving space at the back, Agyeman threatened to win it on the break, but fired a decent chance over.
Brian Graham also missed a fine chance to claim Falkirk’s first home win in the top flight in 15 years.
Within minutes, the Rangers keeper was given the signal to go forward to see if he could cause chaos at a free-kick. It was desperate. It summed up exactly where Rangers are at this moment in time. It will soon be another manager’s concern.
