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The National (Scotland)
The National (Scotland)
Sport
Blair Meikle

How Rangers Russell Martin stance may contradict chief's comments from summer

Rangers' short, medium and long-term aims were "just win" and there would be no honeymoond period for Russell Martin. The words of Paraag Marathe back in June.

The Ibrox vice-chairman spoke shortly after the club appointed the former Southampton boss along with sporting director Kevin Thelwell and recruitment chief Dan Purdy.

After taking power, the new owners made clear their ambition for success and feeling that Martin was a man that could deliver that.

While he did admit patience was required, it was made clear Rangers needed to win games.

Fast forward to five games into the Premiership season and they are yet to taste victory in the league, unthinkable for the Ibrox club. They have also crashed out of the Champions League in quite embarrasing fashion.

Some fans on social media are now spotting a contradiction between club chiefs standing by the manager and those comments from the summer.

Back then, Marathe said: “Pretty simple: win. That's the short, medium and long-term focus.

"But, as much as I don't have a lot of patience, it does require patience, discipline and building that right foundation because what you're trying to do is make as many decisions that are right more often than wrong, stack as many of those decisions as you can, and, ultimately, in the long term you'll be successful.



“But as we all know, there's a lot of luck involved in this great sport, and so all you could do is set yourself up to put yourself in a position to be able to win that league title, to be able to win that cup.

“Which way the ball actually bounces is not in our control, but we'll control what we can control, and hopefully there'll be a lot of success in the near future.

“The priority is trying to set this up so that every year we have a chance to compete for the league title, for the cups, for everything.

“And, honestly, if Andrew and I are doing our jobs well, you won't hear from us much. We'll speak when we have something to say.

“We want our actions to speak for themselves, and if we're doing a good job then that means that you won't need to hear from us much, and that's because we are experiencing success, both short and long-term.”

On Martin being appointed, he added: "Why Russell Martin as Head Coach? It was a very exhaustive, comprehensive process, led by Patrick and Kevin very capably.

"And we're all very excited about him, given his experience being a former Rangers man himself, he understands the unique weight put on him.

“It was referenced earlier about how long or short the honeymoon period will be. There's no such thing as a honeymoon period in football; the pressure is always there every match to win, and he understands that having been here, having been a successful manager.

“What I've found in my experience is that the really good managers they not only know what works well for them but they've also learned from different challenges they've had in their careers, and learn what didn't work and how to adjust. And I feel like Russell has done a good job of that as well.”

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