Shock new Nico Raskin revelation at Rangers | OneFootball

Rangers fans are today absolutely outraged at the latest chaos from Ibrox after manager Russell Martin confirmed talisman Nico Raskin will not be in the squad to face Hearts. This news broke last night by STV and a number of questions criticising the source were aimed at the Scottish broadcaster suggesting that the news was a load of nonsense and, to quote individuals, how could they possibly know. It turned out of course, as Ibrox Noise reported, that this story was completely true and Martin has today confirmed Raskin will not be facing Derek McInnes’ men.

Fans in Uproar

So what does this all mean? Well of course Rangers fans are debating with each other and raging about the manager. That part we can certainly understand. There are a few however of the support who are enlightened enough to realise that Raskin is no innocent angel here and has pulled the same stunts at his previous club Standard Liège.

Play Your Best Players

There is of course the fact that you play your best players. We utterly agree with that notion. Rangers need our best players and Raskin is undeniably one of them. He is unfortunately also a troublemaker. Russell Martin is a hated manager, no question of that, and it is hard to side with him on any topic. The fact is however that Raskin did these things in Belgium as well with his prior club and is known to be a disruptive influence.

Martin’s Authority

We do not know exactly the details of why he is out of the squad but the long-running story is that he has questioned Martin’s tactics and is disruptive enough to say that he cannot play for Russell Martin under these circumstances. Whatever we think of Russell Martin, and it is not a lot, the manager does get final veto. His authority is absolute.

Ferguson vs Raskin

We all saw this happen with Barry Ferguson and Paul Le Guen. The difference of course here is that Nico Raskin is no Barry Ferguson. He is not as talismanic, he is not the captain and he is simply not as good a player. He is a good player, no question, but Barry was a force of nature and when he fell out with Paul Le Guen, Rangers fans 2-1 sided with Ferguson. Le Guen lost his job as a result of that fallout. There was no coming back once Barry had been axed.

What Happens Next

Consequently Raskin is in the same boat but the difference is he has not offered Rangers what Barry did. Barry gave a lot more as captain. He was a huge influence on the whole club and a massive leader on the pitch. To compare Raskin and Ferguson is not quite accurate. However, there are parables in the fact that a main midfielder in the team has come to loggerheads with the manager.

Does this mean that Martin is going to get the sack? We have been debating that one back and forth recently and will do so in a separate article. For now, Raskin is out and Rangers fans are outraged. Nothing much changes.