WHEN your own fans can’t bring themselves to celebrate a victory, you know the game is up.
Just in the door from Ibrox last Saturday night, and the following text appears from a Rangers-daft pal.
“Typical. S**** all season, but somehow we contrive to win a must-lose match.”
It’s clearly a problem — but it’s only one of many facing them.
I know the game’s up, you know the game’s up, people out there with absolutely no interest in football know the game’s up.
Why can’t Andrew Cavenagh and Co see it?
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The longer they persist with Russell Martin, the more damage they will do to Rangers.
In the life of any under- pressure manager, there’s always a tipping point.
For John Barnes it was Inverness, for Tony Mowbray it was losing 4-0 to St Mirren.
Michael Beale’s was a home defeat to Aberdeen and Philippe Clement’s the shame of Queen’s Park in the Scottish Cup.
Martin passed his point of no return against Hearts two weeks ago. He should have been relieved of his duties there and then.
Instead, the board buried their heads in the sand. hoping things will somehow get better.
But there’s NOTHING to suggest that will happen. History tells you this only ends one way.
Martin’s relationship with the fans is broken beyond repair, while his relationship with the media is strained to say the least.
So where does the well of self-confidence come from?
Two domestic wins out of seven, two wins out of seven in Europe, four wins out of nine at Ibrox, zero wins from five away from home and zero wins out of five in the league.
In his last 25 league games as a manager — 20 at Southampton, five at Gers — Martin has two wins, six draws and 17 losses.
Rangers are second bottom of the Premiership, and lost to the team who were 14th of 16 in Belgium’s top flight.
If the protests didn’t get the message through to Cavenagh, though, maybe the maths will.
With 12,000 empty seats at £50 a head, plus £400,000 for a league phase win, Thursday night cost Rangers £1million in lost earnings.
Winning one match in the Europa League pays more than winning the Scottish Cup.
They won’t be spending £20m next summer if they continue to fritter away Uefa’s cash.
And that brings us nicely to recruitment. While Martin is out of his depth, the same can be said for CEO Stewart and sporting director Kevin Thelwell.
Gers spent £12m bringing in Bojan Miovksi and Youssef Chermiti. The latter was handed a first start against Genk, delivering a performance you’d expect from a striker who’s gone 29 MONTHS without a goal.
Max Aarons, suspended on Thursday, has toiled badly, while stopper Emmanuel Fernandez, a near-£3m buy from Peterborough, has been bombed completely.
The hustle and bustle of Scottish football looks too much for Spurs loanee Mikey Moore, while the form of wingers Djeidi Gassama and Oliver Antman has fallen off a cliff.
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The league is already gone, yet there’s still time to salvage something from this car-crash campaign.
But that won’t happen until Martin is gone.
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