Martin insists ‘more support than ever’ from Rangers owners
Russell Martin revealed he has “more support than ever” from Rangers’ owners following the goalless draw against Celtic at Ibrox.
The Rangers boss was under mounting pressure after a humiliating 6-0 defeat by Club Brugge on Wednesday night which saw them exit the Champions League play-offs 9-1 on aggregate.
The club’s chairman Andrew Cavanagh and representatives of the their new United States-based owners 49ers Enterprises, including vice chairman Paraag Marathe, were in the directors’ box for the visit of the champions.
And they witnessed one of the poorest Old Firm games in recent years with Celtic ending the game still six points ahead of Rangers after just four Scottish Premiership fixtures.
Martin has recorded just three wins in 11 games which is the worst start to a league season for a Rangers boss in 42 years but he said: “I haven’t felt one change in their [owners] attitude towards me. If anything I’ve felt more support than ever in the last week. Kevin [Thelwell, sporting director], Patrick [Stewart, chief executive], the owners.
“Andrew spoke amazingly well to the players and staff on Saturday on the plan we embarked on just 90 days or so ago. They felt it was the right plan then and they still do.
“He doesn’t want to get caught up in the hysteria of what goes out and goes with being at this club. The pain threshold has been reached time and time again at this club by the supporters. There’s usually a change but nothing has really changed.
“So I feel really supported by the owners. The players and staff needed to hear that on Saturday. There was a lightness in them after that.
“Today they showed how hard they want to run for us, the staff, the supporters and the owners. They feel supported and there’s a plan in place. They understand it.
“We’re disappointed we haven’t got more points but we’re six points off the top and now we have to be hungry and hunt desperately to win and get better.”
On the game itself, which threw up few chances at either end, Martin said: “Really proud of a lot of the stuff I saw, in terms of the togetherness, fight and spirit in the team.
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“We showed aggression, desire, all the stuff we were questioned on from outside in midweek. We questioned ourselves on it. That was a big focus for us, to put in a performance which showed the guys are together.”
Meanwhile, Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers felt his side lacked the firepower to get any more than a point at Ibrox.
“I thought it was a poor game to be brutally honest,” Rodgers said.
The positive for us, we haven’t given away much over the course of preseason and today I don’t think we had a shot against us on target. But in terms of our quality in the game, it’s not at the level I’d expect a Celtic team to be.
“So, so that was a disappointment but felt overall the quality of the game wasn’t at a high enough level.”