ANGUS Gunn today spoke of the huge influence which Russell Martin had on him when he broke into the Norwich City side as a young keeper and predicted the “very intellectual guy” will do a good job at Ibrox if he is appointed Rangers manager.
Martin, who led Southampton into the Premier League in English via the play-offs last season, has emerged as the front runner to replace Phillipe Clement at the Glasgow club despite interest in Davide Ancellotti and Francesco Farioli.
Gunn, who is training with the Scotland squad at Lesser Hampden this week ahead of the national team’s friendly internationalist against Iceland at Hampden on Friday evening and Liechtenstein on Monday night, can understand why the Govan outfit’s new hierarchy are interested in bringing him in.
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“I only worked with him as a player at Norwich,” he said. “He's a very intellectual guy. I went in there as a young goalkeeper and he helped me massively, even though he wasn't in the team every week and playing regularly.
“He was the captain of the club and he had good relationships with everyone in the dressing room. Obviously, watching what he's done at Southampton, I thought he'd done incredibly well there.
“He probably was unfortunate to lose his job there because it's always difficult for teams coming up from the Championship to even compete with some of the Premier League teams.
“I watch him now on the TV and can see the way he wants to play and his philosophy. I really hope whatever he goes on to in his career is successful.
“I don't know if he's going to go to Rangers or not, but obviously he had a spell there as well, so he kind of knows the club a little bit. I think it would be a really good thing for the Rangers, to be fair.”
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Gunn, who is set to win his 16th cap for his adopted homeland against Iceland, knew early on that Martin, who played 29 times for the country of his father’s birth in the 2010s, was destined to become a manager when he started playing with him at Norwich.
“There were a few other players in that dressing room who were like that,” he said. “Steven Naismith was there as well. But you can definitely tell on the pitch when you're playing with players. They kind of start coaching whilst they're still playing, if you like, sort of organising on the pitch.
“He was one of them. But Russell wasn't just on the pitch, he was off the pitch as well, where he had close relationships with everyone. Even though, like I said, he wasn't a regular playing in the team, he was always on hand and always upbeat and a good person to go to.”
