HE’S played in Premiership and mixed it with the best in La Liga on his way to amassing over 100 top-flight appearances.
But Max Aarons reckons nothing could have prepared him for life at Rangers.
The on-loan Bournemouth defender is only just finding his feet after a baptism of fire this summer.
A disappointing start was compounded by a crazy red card in Europe which effectively ended Gers’ hopes of Champions League football.
That humiliating 6-0 defeat to Brugge came on August 27, and Aarons hadn’t been seen since.
That was until he leapt off the bench against Livingston on Sunday to fire the goal that keeps Russell Martin in a job for now.
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Yet even Aarons’ 94th minute winner wasn’t enough to please the travelling support who continued to belt out “Martin, Martin, Get To F***’ even after Gers at last won in the league.
It’s a pressure and level of expectation that has taken Aarons time to adjust to.
He confessed: “It’s different, and I don’t mean that in a bad way.
“I think it’s just something that in your first few games you really realise.
“Then it’s about overcoming that and showing the character to deal with that.
“I also think it’s a privilege to have that support.
“Coming here to an away stadium and having three stands on Sunday, it felt like a home game.
“Then it’s on us to reward them with a good performance for them to watch, but most importantly, to get them a win.
“I think we can do that more now and hopefully those wins are going to really push us forward and build a stronger relationship with the group, the fans and everyone connected to the club”.
You wonder for how long the Ibrox hierarchy can continue to ignore the outside noise.
For the Rangers fans, Sunday’s dramatic late victory only serves to kick the can further down the road.
Martin, it seems, is destined to remain a man on the brink until the powers that be put everyone out of their misery.
Such was the abuse raining down from the stands, Martin disappeared down the tunnel at full-time so as not to spoil his players’ moment in the sun.
His staggering post-match admission says it all.
Yet last night Aarons leapt to the defence of his embattled gaffer.
He said: “The ideas on the pitch, that’s down to us.
“That’s the way we’re going to play and our performance levels are down to us.
“How much we run is down to us.
“I think as the weeks are going on now, we don’t want it to be this late into the season to get that first win, but I feel like we’re starting to get better and perform with each other and get relationships.”
Rangers delivered their best first half of football under Martin to deservedly lead at the break.
But after reverting to type in the second half, Mo Sylla looked to have rescued a point for Livi.
But Aarons had other ideas – popping up deep into added time to secure a priceless win for the Ibrox side.
He smiled: “First and foremost, that’s the moment you dream of, coming to this club, scoring a late winner like that.
“But for the team, I think it was huge.
“But to be honest, I think we deserved that in terms of the overall game.
“I think we were good and we looked more how we want to look.
“Obviously, it was disappointing not to play and to start, but from the side, I could see that the boys looked better on Sunday.
“To have a moment like that in the dressing room at the end was massive.
“Listen, we know being this far into the season now and it being our first win is not good enough for this club.
“We know that, but moments like Sunday they build character and they build a trust within the team that we can get through the difficult spells.
“Like I said in a previous interview, every game isn’t going to be an easy win.
“We have to dig in on moments like that and win late if we need to.”
Rangers now head for Austria and a clash with Sturm Graz in the Europa League.
On Sunday they’re back on the road, this time to face Falkirk in the final match before the international break.
The weekend win over Livi has caught the gap on Celtic to seven and nine to leaders Hearts.
And Aarons insists it’s vital Rangers now kick on.
He stressed: “I said from the start, the aim is to be at the top end of the table.
“And that’s what we’re going to do.
“Like you say, we’re hunting the teams down.
“It has to start from Sunday.
“That should give us a lift and push us on now.
“We have to start that with the European game on Thursday.
“And then in the league we have to kick on and continue this now.
“The Graz game in midweek is massively important.
“I think we can compete.
“Like I’ve seen before at Ibrox, there have been great European nights and European nights in general for this club.
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“We have to continue with that.
“But also we know how important this league is and we need to win that.”
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