Russell Martin is adamant that Tuesday night’s Champions League qualifier against Panathinaikos won’t define Rangers’ season.
Only appointed manager on June 5, the club’s former centre-half faces a testing managerial debut at Ibrox against the team which finished runners-up in Greece last season.
Martin has signed seven players since taking charge and has only had a month to bed in the new recruits.
In the first competitive game since the club moved into American ownership, he is hopeful of securing an advantage to take to the second leg in Athens next week as the club eyes a return to the group phase.
Irrespective of the outcome, though, he doesn’t buy into the view that one game will necessarily set the tone for what comes afterwards.
‘It’s not going to be a season-defining game,’ said the 39-year-old. ‘It’s not.
Rangers boss Russell Martin prepares for his first competitive game in charge of the club
Rangers skipper James Tavernier leads the way in training ahead of the CL qualifier
‘It’s a really, really big game. But a season is a long season. It will be defined by what we do between now and May. So, you can build it up to be that.
‘Every game for Rangers is a big game. Every game is a must-win at Rangers. But it’s not season-defining.
‘The squad will look very different in four or five weeks, I’m convinced of that. But the team we have now, the squad we have now, we have to put in a performance that looks like us, feels like us and one that we can build off and ultimately win the game.
‘I’m excited about it. I said that to the players. With the work they’ve put in over the last four weeks, they should be really excited about this game now, because it’s all been geared towards this, so I’m really looking forward to it.’
Martin will be without Thelo Aasgaard due to the Norwegian midfielder picking up a knock while winger Djeidi Gassama isn’t yet fit enough to start a match.
While Max Aarons, Joe Rothwell and Nasser Djiga look set to make their competitive debuts, the manager will still largely rely on players who finished last season empty handed.
Asked if there could still be a degree of scar tissue among some players he inherited, Martin replied: ‘I’ll tell you tomorrow at 10 o’clock. I think it’s the best test.
‘It’s sometimes not a true reflection, (but) what we’ve seen in training, has been amazing.
‘They’ve come with fresh energy, with willingness and openness to new ideas, to new demands, to maybe different rules to what they’ve had before and they’ve been great the way they’ve embraced it.
‘And now the biggest challenge for them is to do it in front of 50,000 people with a game that means so much to so many people and, for any football player, I think it’s the biggest test to be yourself in them situations.
‘What we have seen over the last four weeks, the more chance we have of being successful. I hope they play with the same freedom, enjoyment and aggression and willingness to run.’
Martin took charge at Ibrox for the first time in a friendly against Club Brugge earlier this month but is relishing the prospect of doing so for real in front of a near capacity crowd at the start of a new era.
‘Every day I wake up and I’m honoured to be in this position,’ he added.
‘I feel extremely grateful for it. I’m excited by it and I will give it everything I’ve absolutely got. We all will.
‘I think that’s what this club demands, what the people demand, what the supporters demand, who will outstay all of us.
‘We want to put a team on the pitch that they are proud of. It has to start tomorrow and they have to see something to be excited about and we have to see something to be excited about. The players have to feel something to be excited about and it’s an amazing opportunity and game to do that.’
Meanwhile, Rangers have learned that will play either Servette or Viktoria Plzen in the third qualifying round if they take care of Panathinaikos.
Both the Swiss and the Czechs finished second in their respective leagues last season.
If Martin’s side lose to the Greeks they will play either Besiktas or Shakhtar Donetsk in the third qualifying round of the Europa League. The Turks finished fourth last season while the Ukrainians were third.
The first legs of both competitions will be played August 5/6/7 with the returns the following week.
