Rangers boss Russell Martin already faces an uphill battle to save his job.
Russell Martin admits being ‘hurt’ by Rangers fans and breaks silence on doorstep protest (Image: GETTY)
Russell Martin acknowledges his professional pride has taken a battering following criticism of his Rangers coaching abilities. However, he maintains that he won’t take supporters’ criticism to heart. The embattled Ibrox manager is fighting to keep his position following a catastrophic start to the campaign, the club’s worst in nearly five decades.
New owner Andrew Cavenagh has been compelled to return to Glasgow to handle a mounting crisis, with supporters organising a doorstep protest before Saturday evening’s Premier Sports Cup quarter-final encounter against Hibernian. However, whilst fan fury has reached fever pitch, Martin maintains he continues to feel ‘incredibly well-supported’ by the US executives now running the club.
Martin said: “For me it’s just a really difficult balance because it hurts professionally. We’re working so hard to try and give the supporters what they want, a team that wins and wins a lot and does it in a certain way.
“So I’m as frustrated and more frustrated than anyone because we’re the guys that are in charge of that and with the results and some of the performance it’s been really frustrating, really difficult.
“And then being in here and listening to someone tell me the team doesn’t look like it’s coached is difficult because I think the one thing that we’ve always said for any of our teams, is they have a certain way of doing things.
“Whether you believe in it or you like it or not, they definitely look a certain way which takes a lot of time on the training pitch. So we’ll get there with this team.
Martin admitted to being ‘hurt’ by the furious reaction from Rangers fans (Image: GETTY)
“The fans’ protest and stuff I can’t control at all so I don’t spend any time. I have to respect it, I have to understand their frustration and their annoyance but I feel every bit of it as well.
“But I do think it’s an amazing opportunity for us as a team to come through this period and grow through it and to be so strong from it.
“Hopefully at that point then everyone will come together and we’ll just need to win football matches.
“So the protest and stuff like that, I can’t take it personally. They don’t know any of it, they don’t know me and they don’t know how hard we’re working.
“But I think the people inside the building I feel incredibly well supported, the players, the staff, ownership and as long as that continues then it’ll be fine.”
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