‘Martin’s excruciating Rangers era finally at a chaotic conclusion’

When Davide Ancelotti, Carlo’s son, appeared to be the man to replace Russell Martin as the new Rangers manager in the summer, the Ibrox bosses gave him one last chance to explain why he was the ideal candidate as the great redeemer of the Govan Road.

Overnight, the club’s culture changed. In his address to the club’s new owners, Martin “knocked it out of the park.” In that “tour-de-force” interview, he had changed a 40-60 to a 60-40 position. Soon, he was named the new Rangers’ head coach.

For Martin, who is the fourth Rangers boss to lose his position in less than three years after Michael Beale, Michael Beale, and Philippe Clement, that presentation behind closed doors was the best of all.

Van Bronckhorst, a ridiculous sacking who is now employed by Liverpool, won the Scottish Cup and made Rangers reach the Europa League final. Beele, a rookie, made it all the way before things started to go wrong. In his first 14 games, he won 13 of them.

Martin was unable to support the defense. Nothing that indicates improvement. He was given the task of naming a few things that were better on his watch a while back when he couldn’t do it. There was a justification for that.

Fans of Rangers who are almost as old as the Campsie Fells, the hills above the club’s training facility north of Glasgow, will say that Martin was the worst manager they’ve ever had. And that is instructive.

One of his predecessors, Pedro Caixinha, lost to Progres Niederkorn, Luxembourg’s fourth-best team at the time, and ended the night by rowing with Rangers supporters while seated in a bush.

The conclusion of Martin was chaotic. Fans frantically for his sacking in recent weeks after a draw at Falkirk, a practice that has become quite frequent and venomous. At the Falkirk Stadium, he was escorted by a policeman and taken out a back exit. Unseemly was it. It was impossible to continue.

Following on from previous league draws against Motherwell, Dundee, St. Mirren, and Celtic, Falkirk was held. At Ibrox, hearts beat hearts. In Europe, Bruno defeated them with 6-0 and 3-1. In capturing Livingston, Rangers did the devil’s job. Every game was like putting fingernails down a blackboard in football. It was agonizing.

The Martin explanations followed, too. He used a variety. He mentioned that his players were scared and anxious, and that he had talked about how they had not followed the instructions given to them during training. The conclusion that Martin believed it was always the fault of others was impossible to avoid.

He brought up Falkirk’s artificial pitch and deflected goal after the draw. He blasted on about a throw-in that went wrong and ended up costing Rangers a goal after the Sturm Graz loss on Thursday night. He claimed that “someone didn’t do their job.”

The justifications poured out like lava. He singularly failed to include himself in the frame. He was booed on and booed off, and Ibrox turned the most viciously against him. The fans began to cry as Rangers scored a late winner against Livingston, but it was about Martin. Put another way, it wasn’t nice.

Many Rangers fans didn’t even give Martin a game, or they did it resentfully.

From day one, he was in trouble with it. Some fans thought he had a better air than his unpopular choice. When all the supporters wanted to know was how things were going to turn out, he said Rangers could only be fixed for the medium to long term.

Celtic has demonized them for a dozen years, and Martin’s plea for patience was understandable, but it was also naive. He had to win matches or at the very least exhibit evidence that something worthwhile was being built. He didn’t either.

Martin shared a story of a conversation he had with a club member about how he felt as though “the tanker was turning around.” Results showed that he was clearly untrue when he enthusiastically repeated it in the media, which might have been forgiven if it had been true.

From the beginning, there was anxiety. Because he believed loanee Max Aarons would be the best option for right-back, he removed club captain James Tavernier from the team. He had to make a 180-degree turn in that regard. He removed Nico Raskin, his team’s best player, and gave them a veritable 12-year transition period to sort things out.

If the team had been on a winning run, the team’s horrifying toil would have been irrelevant. The new owners’ team-building budgets for the summer were close to £40 million gross, according to reports.

The sports director Kevin Thelwell and chief executive Patrick Stewart made the arrangements. After their Thursday loss to Sturm Graz, the pair were confronted by an enraged fan at a hotel.

Robbie is Thelwell’s son’s new head of recruitment, according to Thelwell. As head scout, Nathan Fisher, a former Everton employee, will also be joining. They are exploding the fury. Ibrox has a dysfunctional vibe.

Expect Thelwell Snr and Stewart to draw the crowd in the upcoming weeks and months now that Martin has left. Martin has always been a human shield and a simple punchbag, but despite his animosity, no Rangers fan believes that he was the catalyst for the club’s problems to begin and end.