RUSSELL MARTIN has broken silence on planned fan protest ahead of tomorrow’s huge Premier Sports Cup clash with Hibs – and revealed that Nico Raskin is BACK in the matchday squad.
He’s also spoken for the first time about the controversy which followed his decision to take his stars wild swimming and hill walking on a team-bonding day this week – plus the impending weekend visit of Ibrox supremo Andrew Cavenagh.
4
4
4
Angry Gers fans are planning to stage a protest about Martin and chief executive Patrick Stewart’s handling of affairs at 4.30pm outside Ibrox.
That’s just over an hour before the Gers take to the field for a huge Premier Sports Cup clash against Hibs.
And Martin said: “The fan protests, I can’t control at all. I don’t spend any time.
“I have to respect it, I have to understand their frustration, their annoyance, I feel every bit of it as well.
Read More Football Stories
“But I do think this is an amazing opportunity for us as a team to come through this period, grow from it and be so strong for it.
“Protests, I can’t take it personally, because I don’t know anyone, they don’t know me.
“I think from people inside I have been incredibly well supported and as long as that continues I’ll be fine.”
Martin insists the criticism hurts professionally: “For me its a really difficult balance.
“It hurts professionally because we are trying so hard to give the supporters what they want. Which is a team which wins and does it in a certain way.
“I’m more frustrated than anyone. Listening to someone telling me the team doesn’t look like it’s coached is difficult.
“Because I think the one thing we’ve always had with any of our teams is that they have a certain way of doing things. Whether you believe it or like it, they definitely look a certain way which takes a lot of time on the training pitch. We will get there with this team.”
Already trailing Hearts and Celtic by nine points in the Premiership table, defeat to a dangerous Easter Road team at Ibrox would leave the Scottish Cup as the Gers’ only realistic chance of silverware.
Martin has faced calls for his sacking already just weeks into the campaign and the mood against him wasn’t improved when it was revealed that he took the club for a dip in Loch Lomond and a trek up Conic Hill during the week.
But a defiant Martin defended the move – and did deliver some good news for Gers fans with talisman Raskin back in the fold after being omitted from the squad for the clashes with Celtic and Hearts.
Martin said: “Nico has trained all week, in a good place and is back in the squad for the weekend.”
On the team-bonding trip, he said: “To step away from the city and for the lads to take a breath is good.
“It’s always been the plan, I’ve done it at every club I have been at.
“I think it was good, the lads enjoyed it, and it’s good for them as young men. It set us up for a really good week of training.
4
“We are working so hard to give the supporters a team that wins and does it in a certain way.
“With the results and some of the performances, it has been really difficult, we will get there with this team.
“It is an opportunity for us to get through this tough period as a group and be stronger for it.
“At every club we have been at, there are tough moments at the beginning, but the potential is huge once we work through the difficult moments and improve as a group.
“We have to start with the conviction and courage to be the team we want to be.
“Coming to a club like this I knew the intensity of it, if you want to enjoy it when it is going well you know you will have to deal with tough moments.”
New Rangers owner Andrew Cavenagh has jetted in from the States specifically to see things with his own eyes – with former Gers hero Alan Hutton saying that could spell bad news for boss Martin.
Read more on the Scottish Sun
Goalkeeper Liam Kelly, who got the nod above Jack Butland in the previous round of this competition against Alloa, said: “Ultimately, we need to start applying the principles of how the manager wants us to play.
“The manager is in full agreement that we need to play better, he knows that, and we are all behind him as a group.”
Keep up to date with ALL the latest news and transfers at the Scottish Sun football page
