Russell Martin on Rangers criticism difficulty & Leicester difference

Following a June 2025 appointment on a three-year deal by the Glasgow club's new American ownership, Martin returned to Ibrox after a brief loan playing spell in 2018. He arrived after a troubled Southampton spell in the Premier League.

Nonetheless, Matrin was hired as Rangers' first permanent “head coach” (not manager) in their history, a title which felt ominous to many. He was tasked with modernising the Scottish team around his 'signature possession-based, short-build 4-3-3 style' - labelled "Martinball"; prioritising large possession, playing out from the back and high pressing.

Tactically, the approach stalled badly north of the border. Opponents sat in deep low blocks which meant possession became sterile with little penetration. Significant signings struggled, dressing room rifts reportedly emerged and results collapsed: one league win in seven, Champions League play-off humiliation (a 9-1 aggregate score versus Club Brugge) and winless in the Europa League.

Consequently, Gers supporters turned ferociously hostile: protesting, chanting against Martin; ultimately the gaffer required a police escort to leave one particular ground. The 40-year-old was unsurprisingly sacked on October 5 after a 1-1 draw at Falkirk.

123 days is the shortest permanent reign in Rangers history; the ex-Saints man left the club eighth in the league and 11 points from the summit. His win rate was just 29 per cent (5 wins in 17 games); the chairman later admitted that the appointment had been a 'mistake'.

Therefore it is easy for any fans, especially those at King Power Stadium, to understand why Martin's very promising preseason comes with all sorts of caveats. Worry continues to exists regarding his tactics, or, more accurately, whether the Brighton-born man has learned to adapt in the face of hardship or defeat.

"Everything I got celebrated for as a coach in my first five years of being a coach at MK Dons, Swansea and Southampton, then we got Southampton to the Premier League, everything I got praised for, I got criticised for in the Premier League."

Russell Martin - LCFC Live

Of course, Rangers fans were right to point out the rigidity a failure to alter the system that seemed completely stuck to Martin and his coaching staff. Though he does not label his ways and approach as a philosophy, ever the philosopher, Martin prefers to designate this simply as a game model instead.

Martin considers philosophy in a far more personable sense: how people treat one another and his own way of treating people, which doesn't precisely fit the standard definition, but it’s only fair to let him have his moment in the limelight for now. The Leicester gaffer declared that he simply needed to be somewhere like Seagrave and Filbert Way, where he would be fully allowed to develop and continue working with his own established methods.

Leicester City boss's difficulties at Rangers

Martin noted that it was really difficult, in his own words, to perform or keep progressing with the Light Blues considering all the criticism that was constantly levelled at him during his tenure there. By contrast, he says he is now finally able to concentrate fully on the job once again.

Martin firmly believes that perception and reality are often widely separated in the world of sport. This gap between how things appear and the time they take to actually work is something he feels has defined much of his own career and public treatment.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow