Why Russell Martin Was Sacked by Rangers F.C. After Just 17 Games | OneFootball

It’s that period of the football season where certain clubs feel the need to make some early changes. This means parting ways with their current managers and appointing new ones. Teams do such things to try to turn things around after an unexpected poor start.

One of the top clubs that decided to sack their manager just a couple of games into the season is Rangers F.C. The club from Glasgow fired Russell Martin after just 4 months in charge. This seems a bit harsh, but Rangers had good reasons for making such a big decision.

Poor Performances That Disappoint the Club Management, Fans, as Well as Bettors

It’s official, Russell Martin has become the shortest-serving manager in Rangers’ history. It took 4 months and 17 matches for the Ibrox club to sack the Englishman.

He came in as the main candidate in June, despite not being fully backed by the fans. By October, Rangers fans were calling for his dismissal following a series of bad results. The poor performances in all competitions, apart from the Scottish League Cup, were key to his sacking.

The club under Martin’s reign played a total of 17 matches. It only won 5 of them, while also drawing 6 and losing 6. In the Scottish Premiership, Rangers managed to get only one win from 7 matches. 5 other events ended in a draw, and one ended in a loss at home to Hearts.

Arguably, the most devastating performances took place during the Champions League qualification matches. The Ibrox team started out great as it knocked out Panathinaikos and Viktoria Plzen from the competition. But then it went up against Club Brugge and ended up losing 9-1 on aggregate.

This outcome angered every Rangers fan. It even disappointed numerous bettors who wagered on Rangers at online sportsbooks like sport.netbet.ie/football/champions-league/. The bad form continued in the Europa League group stage. Martin’s squad lost the opening 2 matches to Genk and Sturm Graz. 

Rangers even had a negative goal difference after scoring 21 and conceding 24 goals in all competitions. This proves that almost everything went wrong for Rangers on the pitch while Martin was in charge.

Going Against the Squad and Falling Out With the Players

Russell Martin had a good start during his first official matches for Rangers. He went past Panathinikos in the Champions League qualifiers with a 2-0 win at Ibrox and a 1-1 draw at the Panathenaic Stadium.

Then came his league debut against Motherwell, which didn’t go as planned. The match ended in a 1-1 draw, and Martin didn’t like that at all. He told the press that some of his players needed to drop their egos. He also mentioned a problem with players jogging around and doing whatever they wanted.

These may seem like genuine squad issues, but talking about them in public doesn’t seem like the right approach. Plus, the timing wasn’t right as this was Martin’s 3rd official match as Rangers manager.

More squad problems became public as the team continued with the bad performances. During Rangers’ draw against St Miren, Hamza Igamane refused to come on as a substitute. The striker told the coach that he couldn’t play due to injury.

Not long after that, the club decided to sell the player to Lille. Some believe that Martin was the reason behind his departure. But no one knows what actually happened behind closed doors.

Failing to Get the Fans’ Support and Respect

Many Rangers fans were sceptical of Russell Martin when the club announced him as the new manager. Some decided to give him a chance and judge him based on his performance.

Martin’s limited support started going downward after the club’s heavy defeat to Club Brugge in the Champions League qualifiers. Supporters began booing him after the match, which became a common practice for the coming events. They even put up a banner at Ibrox demanding his sacking.

Even the club’s fan advisory board decided to go public and call for Martin’s departure. However, at that time, the management backed the coach to turn things around and try to save his job.

The Old Firm went on schedule, and the manager decided to drop fan-favourite Nicolas Raskin. This occurred at the same time as the fans’ criticism towards Martin’s own signings, Max Aarons and Joe Rothwell. Supporters then started chanting Raskin’s name and demanding his inclusion in the first 11.

Following a couple of bad results, the directors kept on backing Martin in an attempt to justify their decision to appoint him. The same happened after the 0-2 loss to Hearts. This made the fans very angry as they went on to protest before and after the League Cup quarter-finals.

Supporters even stopped the team bus after the draw against Falkirk. Martin needed a police escort to go past the furious fans. This was actually his last match in charge.