After filleting his Rangers players following the atrociousness of their opening-day draw at Motherwell, Russell Martin later insisted the criticism came from ‘a place of love’.
In truth, it felt like a man having second thoughts about just how hard he went.
When the Ibrox support decided to flip the script on Saturday night and make it clear what they think about him, there was absolutely no love lost at all.
There are plenty of adjectives to describe what kind of place the old stadium did become when it looked like Dundee were going to return to Tayside with a surprise — yet thoroughly deserved — win, but they have nothing to do with love. They have everything to do with anger, disgust, contempt, frustration and disbelief.
Make no mistake, Martin is a man with a major problem here. Two games into the league season or not.
CEO Patrick Stewart and the club’s US owners took a long, long time to appoint the former Swansea and Southampton boss and they’ll want to give him a long, long time to implement the changes in style and culture he talks about.
Rangers boss Russell Martin gives instructions to his players during their 1-1 draw with Dundee
Striker Cyriel Dessers had a stoppage-time goal chalked off for offside at Ibrox on Saturday
However, if the atmosphere at home games continues to turn like it did in this 1-1 draw against a team widely expected to be bottom-six fodder, no one is going to survive that longer-term. No matter how much the senior management are behind them.
It was evident from the moment Martin arrived in June that he wasn’t a popular pick. It’s often hard to gauge exactly what supporters think of players and coaches these days, though.
Internet zoomers colour the issue. Their high-octane rantings and ravings can create a false impression of what the body of the kirk actually feels. On Saturday’s evidence, it looks like the zoomers, perhaps for the first time since the worldwide web was invented, didn’t go far enough.
It was wild inside Ibrox at times during long spells of that second half. It felt like end-of-days stuff, the way it was when the likes of Michael Beale or Philippe Clement or Giovanni van Bronckhorst were on their last legs, all hope lost and their pea-hearted players disappearing into their shells.
With Dundee a goal in front from Ryan Astley’s looping 51st-minute header, having already hit the post in the first half through Clark Robertson, a double substitution by Martin lit the touchpaper.
Punters made it clear they were unhappy about Lyall Cameron, who had arguably been the liveliest Rangers player on the field, going off for Nico Raskin. When Kieran Dowell came on for Mohamed Diomande, though, the boos shook the foundations.
Dowell is not going to make it at Rangers. He was shipped out on loan to Birmingham last term for a reason and it’s a surprise he hasn’t gone back there.
Martin came out strongly to defend him after the final whistle, insisting he trains like a beast, is a good footballer, is liked around the club. Not amongst the support he isn’t. They’ve had enough of him.
Ryan Astley’s header loops over Rangers goalkeeper Jack Butland to give Dundee the lead
As one colleague remarked when the dust had settled at the weekend, Dowell is a strange hill for Martin to die on.
Max Aarons is becoming a problem too. It got to the stage where the on-loan Bournemouth man was being jeered every time he touched the ball. Replacing him with James Tavernier, shortly after Nasser Djiga had been sent off for denying Fin Robertson a goalscoring opportunity, was an act of mercy.
That Tavernier needs to make way for a younger model is clear. It’s just that Aarons isn’t offering much to suggest he’s the answer following his switch from the left to his preferred right-back beat.
It’s hard to know where to begin with the other stuff that had home fans pulling their hair out. Essentially, this game felt no different to so much of the substandard stuff they’ve spent the last four years or more watching.
That it came in the wake of a splendid three-goal win over Viktoria Plzen in Champions League qualifying fitted the trend. Hyped-up for Europe, in hibernation for the Premiership. That’s how Rangers have been for a while now and it looks like it’s the way it might continue.
Djeidi Gassama and Oliver Antman were unplayable against Plzen. Against Dundee, they could barely get given the ball.
There was no zip, no tempo, no penetration, pointless possession, players failing to take risks, failing to do what it takes to beat the low block.
Martin has his ideas on the style he wants to put in place, but he doesn’t appear to have the depth of talent at his disposal to achieve that. Whether Rangers have the financial muscle required to buy individuals of that calibre is an issue too.
It will certainly need crisp, precise passers of the ball. And that puts Jack Butland, John Souttar and others on notice. In these closing weeks of the window, it’s clear a new keeper, left-back, centre-back and centre-forward will have to be bought.
That will probably require some people being sold, but there’s no sign yet of the ‘player-trading model’ cranking efficiently into life. It’s just not good. The vibe around Rangers is not good.
Yes, Tavernier got a point in time added-on with a penalty after Drey Wright had brought down Gassama and Cyriel Dessers, who was back to his normal self after a good display against Plzen, had a 97th-minute effort chalked off for offside. It’s important to consider the chances Dundee had to win too.
On 78 minutes and a goal up, Fin Robertson broke clear. The visitors were two against one inside the Rangers half. All it needed was a simple ball to play in Ashley Hay for the finish. Instead, Robertson dallied and Raskin put in a saving tackle.
Then, at 1-1 in stoppage-time, Astley put the ball just over when being afforded a free header from a corner, another example of how poor this Rangers side are at defending set-pieces.
Dundee, so good and disciplined for most of this match that their manager Steven Pressley said he could have cried for them, should have won. Just like Motherwell should have won the week before.
One thing Martin has got right, though, is in predicting that Rangers fans will have to go through considerable pain in travelling this path towards enlightenment with him.
Travelling out of Glasgow on a late-night bus on Saturday evening, a twentysomething Rangers fan, dressed only in team top and swimming shorts, four sheets to the wind, made for the personification of that, alone in his thoughts on the top deck.
Following a vaguely comedic period of continually dropping his telephone on the floor, he spent the latter part of his journey quietly headbutting the window amid dark, incoherent mumblings.
A Rangers-supporting friend was texted about it. ‘That’s the Russell Martin Effect,’ he replied. Dearie me.
Rangers (4-3-3): Butland 6; Aarons 4 (Tavernier 64), Djiga 3, Souttar 4, Jefte 5 (Curtis 77); Diomande 5 (Dowell 55), Rothwell 6 (Danilo 64), Cameron 7 (Raskin 55); Antman 5, Dessers 5, Gassama 6.
Booked: Antman, Dessers.
Sent off: Djiga.
Manager: Russell Martin 3.
Dundee (5-4-1): McCracken 7; Samuels 8 (Donnelly 90), Graham 8, C ROBERTSON 9, Astley 8, Wright 7; Westley 7 (Yogane 67), Jones 7 (Koumetio 90), F Robertson 7, Digby 7; Hay 7 (Acquah 82).
Booked: F Robertson.
Manager: Steven Pressley 8.
Referee: Don Robertson.
Attendance: 48,958.
