THERE’S been bedsheet banners on the gates.
But for now Russell Martin can rest easy.
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The Rangers boss should have no sleepless nights fretting over his immediate future after this Old Firm derby draw.
He’s still under major pressure from supporters who want him out.
Not even victory over Brendan Rodgers’ Celtic would have changed that.
But Martin is safe in the Ibrox job for the time being at least after his players gave him everything they had to avoid their latest Premiership defeat.
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The points gap between these two clubs stays at six when nine may have felt insurmountable.
And his position would have possibly been untenable.
But while the behind-the-scenes issue with Nico Raskin has not gone away – and won’t unless he’s moved on before 11pm tomorrow night – the intensity over Martin’s position most certainly has.
Whether or not he’s able to turn the punters who stand firm against him, only time will tell.
But they’ll note how Martin has been empowered by talks with chairman Andrew Cavenagh who is fully behind him.
With Cyriel Dessers playing his last game for the club as he heads for the exit door, £8million Everton striker Youssef Chermiti is on his way in, in more major investment in the team.
For Brendan Rodgers, this was another day when his own team didn’t play the football he or the supporters want to watch.
But it’s what they’re being forced to sit through.
The Celtic boss faces his own questions from supporters unhappy with recent performances, despite the fact the pressure is largely on the board and owner Dermot Desmond.
More quality is what Rodgers is determined to get before the transfer window slams shut.
The arrival of striker Kasper Dolberg from Anderlecht would definitely be an upgrade on Adam Idah who was nowhere to be seen at Ibrox as a move to Swansea hangs in the balance.
How this game could have been doing with someone to grab it by the scruff of the neck and be the difference-maker.
You’ll be hard pushed to find an Old Firm clash down the years that was as poor as this one in terms of the standard of play.
Maybe it was nerves and anxiety on both sides.
Maybe it was the fear of losing that gripped these two sets of players.
Maybe it was the fatigue of two tiring away trips in Europe last midweek.
Whatever it was, for any neutral tuning in at home it must have been truly diabolical to watch.
It was like nobody out there had the ability to put their foot on the ball for a single second.
Celtic had most of the ball in the first-half.
But they had just three touches in the Rangers penalty area, no corners and zero shots on goal, let alone on target.
They hadn’t done that at any venue since 2018.
No other team domestically had been as poor going forward.
Rangers?
They had the ball the net after 32 minutes when John Souttar headed home a sensational free-kick delivery from skipper James Tavernier who was backing the team ahead of Max Aarons.
It was only after a VAR check that it was shown that the Scotland centre-back had just learned off-side by a matter of inches and it wouldn’t count.
Kasper Schmeichel was a lucky, lucky bhoy given how hesitant he was.
But other than that moment, Rangers didn’t do nearly enough to threaten the Dane’s goal.
There was an early shout for a penalty when Liam Scales tangled with new signing Bojan Miovksi but referee Don Robertson got its right to ignore the shouts.
The whistler signalled that the defender had merely used his shoulder to intercept the striker, which wasn’t the case.
But it was still the right outcome as Miovski had stepped across Scales and not the other way around.
The quality didn’t improve any at the start of the second-half as it became clear the first team to score would win.
Reo Hatate had Celtic’s first shot on goal – and on target, too – after an hour but Jack Butland was right behind it.
Next Kieran Tierney brought an easy save from the Ibrox No1.
The Scotland defender was subbed after 72 minutes – replaced by Uruguayan signing Marcelo Saracchi – and it was no surprise to see him taken off.
But it’s fast becoming an issue for Celtic that their star man isn’t capable of lasting 90 minutes.
Tierney pointed to his left knee when he took his place on the bench to suggest he’d picked up a knock. Not what Steve Clarke will have wanted to see ahead of the crucial World Cup openers against Denmark and Belarus.
But it seems odd that the 27-year-old routinely gets subbed in games these days.
It was a blow to Rangers when they lost midfielder Connor Barron with ten minutes to go but he’d run himself into the ground and really justified Martin’s decision to pick him ahead of Joe Rothwell.
By time up, the Rangers players took the applause from the home support with the 2500 away fans saluting their team too.
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There were audible boos for Martin as he walked up the tunnel after waiting to slap his players on the back one by one.
But in the director’s box Cavenagh and Co had seen enough to justify their own support of the manager. And the bedsheet banners were folded up and put back in the cupboard.
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