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As it appeared Russell Martin was going to be appointed I removed myself for a couple of days to contemplate the reality of where we are at. Let's face it we were dangerously near to being in big trouble as a club financially and possibly in a state of terminal decline. I welcome the takeover as a last chance saloon. They have made it clear the investment won't be off the scale and there is no short term fix to building the club back up again and I appreciate that and accept that. In that context is Russell Martin the level of manager we can afford? I supect that most of the names that were bandied about were above the level of our affordability. We've hired decent managers in Gio and Clement and been unable to provide them with the tools to do their best job. The mismanagement of the board is well document in that respect. Similarly Russell Martin will rise or fall largely on the quality of players we bring in which in turn will depend on finally getting rid of the no hopers we currently have and how much we get for them. I will get behind their efforts. My hopes for this season are to get through the CL qualifiers (for the money) and to see improvement on the park and signs of real progress. Anything short of the League will be a massive red flag all round. My realism didn't last too long.

Here we go, Coady, Vardy, Pearce at left back, Ray Parlour in midfield, Waddle on the wing. Its coming home! Thelwell and Purdy doing a great job.

And I think that's why we need to change our mindset as a support. We always want a manager silver bullet, one single man who will fix all our problems. Football just doesn't work like that anymore. There are no Walters, or Alex Fergusons. In theory, pretty much any manager we bring in, as long as they match the vision and ideas of the football operations team should be able to lead us to success. Its a bit like the 'Why are Bayern hiring Kompany' thing.

The (over)reaction by a large group of fans since Wednesday just reinforces the idea that we've been a club stuck in the 90's. Give the guy a chance FFS. He's the first manager since we've came back up that's going to have owners with a vision and the proper structures around him.

I really don't think it matters. I hope there are more leaders brought into the club. and there are quite a few who take the responsibility of leadership, which is much more important than who the club captain is. If Tav remains at the club then I don't care if he still stays as captain, but I do hope that we bring a better right back in.

Had some time to sleep and calm a bit. Still think this tweet is nonsense. Still think it's an absolutely horrific appointment but it is what it is. Folk will love the exciting pass out pish but guess moaning on an Internet isn't going to change a thing and I wish him of course the very best, I ain't going to hope he loses ffs. Just still can't quite fathom what they see. But mabie he proves me wrong, and il eat humble pie soon.

Reminds me of

If we had waited a few more days we could have had Ange, he’s left Spurs.

I don’t know if I should cry or not 🤣 my son has been up since 2am singing Make us dream - Follow-Follow. This usually happens at least twice a month. On the positive side of things his speech is coming on slowly but surely. We can’t have it all I suppose 💪🏻🔴⚪️🔵NS WATP

I think the reaction from the support has been alarming, especially given the roaring horses arse that's been made over the last few years with our choices. Would I have wanted RM? Probably not. Would I have wanted Ancelotti? Definitely not. Would I have wanted Gerrard? Maybe. At the end of the day, that would appear to have been the choice. The fact that Gerrard appears to have pulled from the race suggests that there will not be the same power base with the manager that he enjoyed and maybe that didn't work for him. We have cried out for a manager that does not treat the likes of Dundee like Real Madrid and who wants to press his opponents hard. That seems to be RM's modus operandi. He could have his very own Mojo moment if he tans the filth in the first OF game. If we have a decent transfer window, this may well yet be a good season. Give him a chance FFS. I'd define his first seasons success requirements as a cup, a real title challenge and EL Groups (and last 16) at a minimum.

Low Block!

No...let's worry about his accent and baldy heed.

I don't think any of us can argue / disagree with this ; "We've been second for a long time, obviously 55 aside, and if we don't change something we're going to continue finishing second." Patrick Stewart believes Rangers must change their culture if they are to change their fortunes.

Postucoglu wouldn’t have come here if asked, but if he had been let go before Russell Martin was put in post, and if had been willing, would we have had him? As much as it pains me to say it I think he was one of the most impressive managers to have come to the Scottish game at least in recent years. His style of football was very positive and, in Scotland at least, and more recently in Europe, successful, and of course his connections allowed him to bring in really good players from the likes of Japan. Such a shame his Scottish success was with them. Imagine if he’d come to us instead, the last couple years I think would have been very different. Personally, I wouldn’t have wanted him here after his connection with them, but it just makes me more convinced we have missed a trick, twice now, in not appointing Kevin Muscat as our manager, who similarly had connections far afield and an impressive track record.

“the slopes of dear old Ibrox”. You would have to be middle aged now to have stood on them.

Brilliant - hopefully belting out Rangers songs will continue to help the wee man's speech. Here's another one to teach him for his next 2:00AM concert 😃 https://youtu.be/l7Ce714tvWU?si=lSxrIfQnxs5Ee9wy

I'd like Kasanwijro back.

Martin is not an exciting appointment. We don't have a choice just now. I think he is too candid when speaking to the press. This may, or may not, come back to haunt him later. Despite that he did say some things I liked. For example his emphasis on work ethic. I think it's best, now, to leave him to get on with it.

Old players and good memories ... Weir aside, I've rarely seen a better goal scored (ability-wise) than the one of Jermaine Defoe against Livingston, with that long ball by Tavernier from the half-way line being converted with a delightful touch past the keeper.

I was thinking the same about my own posts recently concerning the takeover/manager, but it is how I feel about it.

Would be interesting to know how much say he'll have on the signings. Edit - just listened to the press conference. Sounds like he'll have a say but not necessarily initially identifying players.

We've just had question after question at the press conference about how the recruitment works with a DoF and Head Coach and the first comments here afterwards are, 'I wonder what contacts he has?' ...

Irrelevant but thanks for confirming.

Seems the leaks were bang on this year. Not a fan of the away strip, but starting to sound like a moaning twat so I'm going back in my box.

No surprise to hear the new manager speak well and strongly communicate his ideas to the supporters. Only time will tell if he can build a squad that can carry out his instructions to deliver the success we all expect. Recruitment now such a vital part of this process.

Reactions to manager/coach appointments post Mr Struth excluding temps. Proves I’m not often right. Symon: who’s he, dad? White: big shoes to fill. Waddell: not before time. Wallace 1: why? Greig: too soon. Wallace 2: is this wise? Souness: ecstatic. Walter 1 : sensible for now. Advocaat: this is going to be good. McLeish: what? Well, I suppose. Le Guen: progress. Walter 2: relief. Who else could it have been? McCoist: is this really a good idea? Warburton: this could be the man. Pedro: Gordon flaming Bennett. Gerrard: bit of excitement, we’ll see. Gio: might be ok. Beale: something not right. Clement: on the right track. Martin: oh. There’s hope yet for the hipster without him needing my endorsement.

Joys of everyone going by surnames in football. Instances where people have two first names are confusing. I.e our manager, Martin.

I quite like Jean-Luc.

Agreed and Tav would be a very good back-up for right back, or even back up CB depending on the opposition - as he showed in the EL last season.

Wait and see if this attracts all the pro Palestinian nutters

I'll need to gauge the interest first.

I don't think Tav is going anywhere so best for Martin to bring in an alternative to compete with him.

Bit of both - for the moment we have to gamble on young players who looking for a breakthrough, or older players who will bring experience buy no resale value. Our player trading model is broken, we need to find some young players who'll explode onto the scene and then sell them on quickly. Igamane is a prime example, cost us £1.5Mish so if someone offers us £6M or above, we sell and purchase 3 players at 1.5Msh and keep the cycle going. Those wanting Dessers sold for less than we paid or "break-even" don't get the transfer model we require, that's why Dessers would be the last striker I would sell unless we arw making a profit. It won't be popular, but it's our current reality. This will only change once the model is established and working.

That will save me £25, thanks!

At least he talks better than Stewart. But that's for another thread. Interesting to hear them claim he been working on this appointment for a while, despite only actually starting on Monday, hope his record ends up better than his time at Everton. Over to you Kevin

Fair point, I agree, but I think you see more connections to the manager than you might think in any signings.

Aye, pretty much leaked straight away, even Tav in the video on Rangers twitter is saying "It's leaked already!" 😂

Martin will know the English championship well he might bag a few bargains

Incredible game. Bit of a fall of from Spain when they were cruising.

I wonder why I was "forced" to open the transfer thread back in the day ...

Le Guen: Brilliant. What a coup! Shows how much I (and many others) knew.

The presser was as underwhelming as the whole process. Textbook answers of course. Been working on this 2 months now yada yada yada Now I'm terrified. Really am. This won't end well. But I bloody hope I'm wrong.

Is that what they'll be serving at Auchenwokie?

Kris Boyd compared Martin to Kompany, which I thought was interesting: Promoted with a possession-based philosophy, pumped in the PL, then gets the Bayern Munich job. I don't think it's entirely correct, but it suits my position so I'm taking it.

The way I see it, there are essentially two choices now, either keep moaning about it and set the guy up to fail before he’s even in the door, or accept the decision and at least give it a chance to work. To confirm, I'm not one of the ones who was sold on Russell Martin. There are already plenty of people outside the club who’ll be desperate for us to fail, we don’t need to add to that from within. If the negativity keeps piling up from our own fans, then yeah, chances are he will fail eventually. Whether we like it or not, Martin’s the manager now. He’s here for at least the next few months, like any new appointment. His best shot at making it work is with a bit of backing from the support and to be fair, there are some positives there if folk are willing to look for them, just search for @Rousseau's posts Anyway, now we can get back to the fun bit of complaining about being linked with unheard of players in The Rangers Summer 2025 Transfer Rumours and Deals - Thread