FORMER Rangers boss Philippe Clement hopes the new owners at Ibrox and the new manager will usher in a period of stability at the club which he feels has been missing.
Russell Martin has been named as Clement’s successor and will begin the significant task of rebuilding the squad after signing a three-year deal at the club.
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It ends months of speculation about whom the new manager will be with names like Steven Gerrard and Davide Ancelotti being linked with the post.
And it comes days after the US consortium completed the takeover of the club and sporting director Kevin Thelwell started his new job.
Clement was sacked in February after a run of disappointing results, including being dumped out of the Scottish Cup by Queen‘s Park, and SunSport told you back then that Martin was in the running.
The Belgian says there has been a lack of continuity at the club in recent years and that will be one of the challenges facing Martin and the new regime.
He told the BBC: “A lot of things have changed in the club in the last year or the last few years.
“A lot of things changed over and over again.
“The main thing is the club has stability to work in a good way with the players, with staff, with everybody in the club to have a consistent story.
“I think that is the big part that the club has been lacking for years already.
“I hope the new owners can bring that for the club and for the managers, also for the players.”
The decision to appoint Martin has been met with a lukewarm response by fans, despite being seen as the outstanding candidate by the CEO Patrick Stewart and Thelwell.
In his last post, Martin guided Southampton to the Premier League in England, beating Leeds in the play-off.
But they plummeted straight back down to the Championship after a disappointing start, which saw the 39-year-old lose his job in December.
The former Scotland international initially had plaudits for his high-pressing and possession based style of play at MK Dons, but was criticised for not being adaptable in the top flight with Southampton.
And the former Saints, MK Dons and Swansea manager is adamant he can prove the doubters wrong.
He said: “To the fans, I have to win. I don’t think I’ve been the number one choice at any club I’ve been at.
“At MK Dons to go from a player to become a manager is a bit of a surprise to the fans.
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“At Swansea they were being linked with all sorts, they had lost in the play-off final then we turned up from League One.
“At Southampton the same, they had just been relegated from the Premier League and I’m sure there were loads of names linked with the job.
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“But by the time I’ve left every club I’ve felt a real connection with the fans, they are right behind us, and definitely the players and the playing staff. Hopefully this will be the same.
“And I hope the fans judge me on this moment, not on my playing career here, because that was very different.”
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