Most football fans bemoan the international break, especially the September window, given that it comes just as the club season is starting up again, but perhaps Rangers supporters have enjoyed a fortnight of relative serenity away from Ibrox.
So far, Rangers have failed to win their opening four matches of a Premiership season for the first time in 42 years, held to a series of 1-1 stalemates, before a diabolically dull goalless Glasgow derby last Sunday.
Later this month, the Light Blues will commence yet another Europa League campaign, welcoming Genk to Ibrox, having been embarrassingly demolished 9-1 on aggregate by Club Brugge in the Champions League play-off round.
The takeover by 49ers Enterprises, that was finalised in June, was supposed to signify the start of a new era for Rangers, but that hasn’t come to pass so far, with supporters demanding a change in management, which could be coming soon.
Russell Martin: a dead man walking
Following a thorough and extensive search, Rangers fans were generally underwhelmed when Russell Martin was unveiled as the new manager, this coming 102 days after Philippe Clement had been sacked all the way back in February.
Well, given the miserable results documented already, Martin’s stock has managed to fall even further, winning only three of 11 fixtures across all competitions to date, one of which was a very unconvincing League Cup victory over third-tier Alloa Athletic at Ibrox.
Following the Light Blues’ 1-1 draw with Motherwell at Fir Park, which was, worth reiterating, on the opening day of the Premiership season, Martin gave a scathing assessment of his team’s performance.
Indeed he stated that they were “nowhere near where we need to be”, adding that too many players “want to do what they want to do”, while others need to “drop their ego”, suggesting that the entire club has a “mentality problem”.
Speaking on Sky Sports in reaction to this, Chris Sutton labelled it a “desperate” act, saying it’s never a good sign when you’re forced to “machine gun the dressing room”, let alone this early, while Kris Boyd added that this was “alarming”.
Thus, all the signs are that Martin will not remain Rangers manager for long, so should the 49ers already be laying the groundwork to bring in a major upgrade?
Rangers' major Russell Martin upgrade
During the summer, while Rangers’ managerial search was ongoing, reports emerged claiming that Marco Rose was the ‘front-runner’ to take the job.
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Gers’ new owners, 49ers Enterprises, have a strong relationship with Red Bull Global, given that they own Premier League side Leeds United, with Red Bull buying a minority stake in the Yorkshire-based club last year.
Thus, Andrew Cavenagh and Paraag Marathe, who are on the board at both Ibrox and Elland Road, would surely be able to get in contact with Rose, given his own past employment.
Rose’s professional managerial career began at RB Salzburg, winning the Austrian Bundesliga title during both of his seasons at the club, completing the double at the end of his second campaign as they defeated Rapid Wien in the ÖFB-Cup Final.
Then, after 88 matches in charge of Borussia Mönchengladbach and a season with Borussia Dortmund, he returned to the Red Bull network by joining RB Leipzig in September 2022, a special appointment for him, having been born and raised in Leipzig, back when it was part of East Germany under Soviet rule.
During 124 games at the helm of die Roten Bullen, he led them to back-to-back top four finishes in the Bundesliga, also reaching the Champions League knockout stages, winning both the DFB-Pokal and DFL-Supercup in 2023, beating Freiburg on penalties at Olympiastadion in the cup final, before hammering Bayern Munich 3-0 away from home in the season curtain raiser.
Following a miserable campaign last year, however, he was eventually sacked in March, with Andy Brassell of the Guardian outlining how he still has a strong relationship with Red Bull, who did not take the decision to part company lightly.
Meantime, Kiyan Sobhani labels his style of play “direct”, elaborating that he wants to “get the ball to the attackers as quickly and as possible”, a style of play that would surely excite the Ibrox faithful, and his CV is night and day when compared to that of Martin.
Matches
263
455
Wins
104
271
Win %
39.5%
59.6%
Goals per game
1.5
2.2
Goals against per game
1.5
1.1
Top-flight matches
20
259
UCL matches
0
37
Major trophies won
0
5
As the table documents, Rose’s résumé is exponentially more impressive than that of Martin and would certainly represent a coup.
So, at a time when Rangers supporters are in mutinous mood, hiring a coach with so much elite-level experience would be exactly what they need to reunite everybody associated with the club.
