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The National (Scotland)
The National (Scotland)
National
David Irvine

I'd love Martin to turn it round at Rangers - but I've never seen such toxicity

Andy Halliday would love to see Russell Martin succeed at Rangers - but worries the relationship with supporters is so fractured it might be impossible.

The former Ibrox midfielder - now playing for Motherwell - admits he's never witnessed toxicity towards a player or manager to the level faced by Martin.

Shortly after Rangers' stoppage-time winner over Livingston, Rangers supporters launched into chants of 'Martin get to f***’.

For Halliday, that display is indicative of how gargantuan a task Martin faces to win back Rangers fans.

“It was pretty toxic from the get-go," he said on Clyde 1 Superscoreboard.

“It’s 27 seconds from the ball hitting the back of the net, a 93rd minute winner by the way, between that and the chants we all know and heard.

“That is alarming, the chants start when the players are still celebrating the goal.

“I’ve never seen such toxicity towards a player or manager, and I’ve never seen somebody actually turn it round and win the fans back.”


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Halliday added: “I’d love to see him turn it around just to see how it plays out because of how fractured the relationship is between the fans and the manager.

“I think it would be remarkable to see because I don’t think there has been a comeback like it.”

On what it would take to potentially win fans back around, Halliday stated: “He would probably have to win eight, nine, ten, 11 games in a row and win a Cup final.

“But when you see scenes like yesterday, you actually question whether that’s going to be the case.

“Say Rangers do win eight games in a row, what happens when they lose the ninth?

“It just feels as though it would go back to the exact same scenario and it does feel as though the Rangers fans have already made their mind up.”

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