Rangers head coach Russell Martin says he’s happy to have the support of a “calm” leadership and owners at Ibrox after some disappointing results early in his tenure.
While the former Southampton boss has managed to guide his new-look side to the Champions League qualifying play-off, their hopes of reaching the League Phase took a bruising with a 3-1 home defeat to Club Brugge.
An error-strewn first-half display saw Rangers 3-0 down after 20 minutes and boos rang out around Ibrox. That disappointment followed draws against Motherwell and Dundee in the first two Premiership matches.
Martin has come under fire from supporters over both results and style of play, with many fans disappointed over his appointment in the first place.
The coach, who has said that everyone will have to endure some “pain” as he makes changes for the long-term good, says he’ll just keep working through his process. He revealed he’s had plenty of support from the new owners, chairman Andrew Cavenagh, vice-chair Paraag Marathe, chief executive Patrick Stewart and sporting director Kevin Thelwell.
“I can only control what we can control and that’s working really hard, being all in here, treating it like we’re gonna be here for a long time for the staff and the players,” Martin said.
“If you’re just focused short-term all the time to appease people, and to sort of make people happy it’s not it.
“So the ownership have been really calm, they’ve been great.
“Patrick, Kevin, everyone been so supportive. They understand what’s gone on before and what needs to happen and what’s going to come here.
“I can’t control anything else and I will put all of my energy or attention to that.”
Martin said it was important to have that calmness and a shared understanding of what will be needed for long-term growth and progress.
“It’s huge and I’ve had nothing but support,” he said. “They understand if you need to build something it it might take a bit of time and it’s why I got the job.
“It wasn’t an easy process but I really wanted it.
“Eventually they decided they wanted me, after a lot of conversations. Then only when you’re in somewhere, and it’s the same for them, then you start to say ‘Ok, this bit needs sorting, that needs sorting’ and then you have to prioritise.
“Our job on the pitch is to prioritise some of the stuff that’s hurting us a little bit at the moment, and their job is the same off the pitch to make sure that we’re in a really good place and we just have some foundations to actually build from .
“So, yeah they’ve been great, really supportive and during the transfer window they’ve been great.”
Despite a lot of online criticism, and the anger from the stands on Tuesday, Martin says he has also felt real encouragement and positivity from the Rangers supporters he has met.
“They’ve been great,” the head coach said. “Maybe I’m just walking around the right areas but they’ve been great, honestly, really supportive. Like, really understanding
“I’ve felt nothing but when you’re sitting behind a keyboard and all that stuff it is really easy to say what you want.
“Back in the day, you would have to go in the pub and chat with mates about how bad someone was and it’s gone after a week.
“Now it’s just incessant, constant but it’s the way the world is and I think if you’re a football manager you have to accept that.
“It’s not a problem. Our job is to make sure people feel very different about it in a month’s time, two months time and moving forward.”
Martin, who said he would be happy once the transfer window closes, revealed that Ridvan Yilmaz, Ben Davies and Jose Cifuentes are all on the verge of leaving the club before the deadline.
Yilmaz is set to return to Turkey, Davies will join Oxford City and Cifuentes is to move to Toronto.
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