Rangers sporting director Kevin Thelwell has backed Russell Martin, insisting he is one of the best coaches he has worked with. The Ibrox coach is yet to win a Premiership game, and they trail Old Firm rivals Celtic by six points after Sundays goalless draw.
Martin has been under increasing pressure after a 6-0 thrashing by Club Brugge as they lost their Champions League play-off 9-1 on aggregate. Scottish Premiership games coming up live on Sky SportsGot Sky? Watch now on the Sky Sports app 📱 Not got Sky? Get instant access with no contract 📺 In full: Scottish Premiership 2025/26 fixturesThe Rangers board backed him in the wake of that defeat with Thelwell adamant he will get things right.
Ive been very lucky over the course of my career to work with some very good managers and some very good head coaches and I have to say to you, hes one of the best, he told Rangers TV. Hes extremely high energy.
So he gives time to players, wants to work with players and wants to develop players, wants to be very clear about trying to make players better and develop them. He cares about the group. He cares about the results, cares about the performances and also cares about the staff here.
I appreciate Im saying all of those things and we havent quite translated yet that what Im seeing on a day-to-day basis, all of that hard work, all of that energy into what we need to see on the pitch.
But Im certain that that will happen. I appreciate its very easy for me to sit here and ask for patience. I wont do that because I know we work at an incredible football club that desires and needs to have a winning team very, very quickly.
But there also needs to be a little bit of perspective here because we have changed so much and hopefully in due course, again, the fans and everybody will see all of the good work thats been going on out on the pitch through the performances.
Must do better While Thelwell insists Martin has the continued backing of him and the Ibrox board, he has insisted results need to improve quickly while accepting the fans are low on patience. Clearly, we must do better, he added.
In reality, what weve delivered so far hasnt been good enough and I think we all understand that that needs to improve and were all frustrated with that. But also, I would also say to you there is a huge amount of alignment within this building and theres a huge amount of alignment with leadership team and ownership that believes that were heading in the right direction and believes that we can deliver that success that everybody is craving with the group of people that were currently working with.
Well be working tirelessly and working as hard as we possibly can to deliver that and I also appreciate that needs to be delivered quickly. What I cant do is I cant sit here and say we need patience and we need time and people need to wait because we havent earned that.
But there just needs to be some perspective. Pleased with transfer business Rangers brought in 12 new players before the transfer deadline, with the £10m signing of Youssef Chermiti from Everton their most expensive since Tore Andre Flo in 2000.
A number of players, including Cyriel Dessers and Hamza Igamane, left the club as Martin looked to make his mark. Im pleased with the business that weve done, Evertons former director of football added.
I think weve got a nice balance within the group, and what I mean by that is weve got some young and hungry players, players that can help us now, but can also develop and stay with us for a longer period.
In my view, weve improved the group across all parts of the team, you know, defence, midfield, attack in a very simple context. Now its about actually getting to work with this group of players that are all now in the same space together and focusing down on what we need to achieve, which is creating a winning team that Rangers fans can be proud of, the club can be proud of.
What next for Raskin? Nico Raskin was left out of the Rangers squad for Sundays Old Firm game after Martin, insisting there had been no breakdown in his relationship with the midfielder. The Belgian told the club he wanted to stay and Raskin confirmed he will be invited for talks with his manager when he returns from international duty.
What happens is he goes on international duty, he comes back as a Rangers player. When he comes back, Russell and I sit down with Nico and talk about what we do next, Thelwell said. Its very, very important that we all understand that we all want the same thing.
We all want a better Rangers team. We all want a stronger Rangers team and we all want a winning Rangers team. Its also important to make the point that this year is a very important year for Nico. Hes a terrific player Hes obviously a full Belgium international.
Hes got a World Cup coming up, Im sure hes going to want to be a strong part of that. Him doing his best for Rangers and playing as well for Rangers is going to be important to him. And of course, its going to be important to us.
So a conversation to be had in due course.
