The pressure is continuing to mount on Rangers manager Russell Martin, with Gers legend Ally McCoist now describing one situation as “incredible”.
New update on Martin's Rangers future
It was another terrible day at the office for Rangers on Saturday afternoon, with Hearts winning 2-0 at Ibrox thanks to Lawrence Shankland’s double.
For Martin, it was potentially another nail in the coffin, with the 39-year-old making an extremely disappointing start to life in charge of the Gers, not yet winning a game in the Scottish Premiership this season.
That said, fresh reports suggest that the Englishman has been given a vote of confidence by the owners for the time being, with The Daily Record claiming that 49ers Enterprises have “decided to stick” with him.
It is clear that huge improvements are required at Rangers, in terms of results, performances and also Martin’s relationship with certain players.
McCoist fumes at "incredible" Martin decision
Speaking live on talkSPORT on Monday [via Rangers Review], McCoist bemoaned the Nicolas Raskin situation at Rangers, with Martin’s continuing to freeze the key midfielder out of the squad.
“Now, there’s obviously a problem with Raskin. There’s no doubt about that, something has happened. But from where I’m sitting, you cannot bite your nose off to spite your face. If you’ve got a problem with Raskin – and he [Russell Martin] clearly has – I think he’s got to let the public know what that problem is.
“Because we’re all sitting there watching that game at the weekend, and Raskin would walk into that team. He scored for Belgium during the week in an international. There’s nobody on the planet going to tell me that Raskin should not be in the Rangers starting 11.
“Why is he not in the starting 11? There has to be an incredible reason for it, because you can’t leave him out if it’s to the detriment of the team. The team is the most important thing, not an individual problem between a manager and a player.”
This is a saga that desperately needs sorting, with Martin’s stubbornness in not playing Raskin now arguably backfiring, with the manager needing to bite the bullet and bring him back in.
It feels as though Martin is right on the edge at Ibrox, so frankly, he may as well make a change and play an important player, in order to potentially help save his job.
It remains to be seen if he is willing to do so, however, and if his decision has been made with Raskin, nothing will change unless he is dismissed, or until the midfielder possibly leaves in January.