With five الدوري الممتاز games gone and not a single victory on the board, desperate times have led to desperate measures. On Monday, the under-pressure Gers boss swapped cones and footballsfor hiking أحذية and icy dips.The squad first trekked up Conic Hill before plunging into Loch Lomond’s bone-chilling waters. Martin’s belief? A change of scenery would reset the mood and spark a response.
رينجرز icon Barry Ferguson admitted he couldn’t see the point of Martin’s surprise excursion. But it was ex-توتنهام midfielder and current pundit Jamie O’Hara who unleashed the fiercest attack. Speaking on Sky Sports, he slammed: “Rangers is a massivefootballclub and he’s getting it all wrong. He’s in disarray. If I was a player and the manager wanted us to go on something like this to Loch Lomond I’d be absolutely fuming. I’d be like, ‘Is this guy having us on?’ Why would I want to go swimming in Loch Lomond as a team-bonding session?”
O’Hara mocked the idea of climbing hills and braving icy waters as a way to lift spirits and instead suggested: “Give me somegolfclubs or get thefishingrods out and go out on a boat for the day. That’s fair enough. But going swimming in a freezing lake? How is that a team-bonding session? That’s pain. Then you want me to go and walk up a mountain? Come on. Do me a favour.
“You can’t tell me the lads want to be doing that. Why don’t you go and have a round of golf, get some buggies out and have a laugh or adrinkin the bar afterwards. But going for a hike is not an activity that you want to be involved in as a football player. Russell Martin’s getting it all wrong. That’s not team-bonding, that’s making it worse. If you’re organizing a team-bonding session four or five games into a season, you’ve got serious problems.”
O’Hara pulled no punches when assessing Martin’s credentials after a winless start in the Premiership and predicted that his days are numbered at Ibrox.
“He’s going to go. It’s just a matter of time,” he said. “I was inScotlandlast week and Rangers fans are absolutely fuming. They can’t stand him. What credentials did he have to get the Rangers job in the first place? All right, he did a half-decent job atSouthampton- but Rangers is one of the biggest clubs in the world.
“It’s like being theManchester Unitedmanager. There’s constant scrutiny and you’ve got to win every week. He ain’t been used to winning. When he was at ساوثهامبتون, they got pumped when they came up into thePremier League. They want to play tippy-tappy football, but that’s not what Rangers need. They need winners, they need leaders, they needfightand spirit. I don’t know ifRussell Martin’s that guy. And I just think it’s a huge decision the club’s made and one they’ve got all wrong.”
With the knives out and pressure building by the day, Martin will cling to the hope that Saturday’s Premier Sports Cup tie with Hibs provides a lifeline.
O’Hara added: “The league’s over already, right? They can’t win the league. So they’ve got to decide what the objective is now for the season. There’s three competitions left. If he loses in the Cup to Hibs this weekend he’s definitely gone.
“I wouldn’t give them any hope in European football, the way they’re playing. They’re absolutely terrible. I watched one of the European qualifiers and they were absolutely awful. So forget that. Normally when I’ve watched them in European competitions, they’re solid, they have a fight and a spirit. Everyone’s behind them in thehomegames, there’s an atmosphere. Let me tell you, there’s no atmosphere at Rangers at the moment.”
