Rangers legend Ally McCoist believes Russell Martin is close to the end of his tenure at Ibrox, citing mounting fan unrest and poor results as signs his “time is just about up.” Despite typically advocating that managers should be given at least two transfer windows to prove themselves, McCoist admitted that the current situation may not allow for that luxury.
Rangers have endured a miserable start to the season, sitting 11th in the Premiership and suffering a humiliating 9-1 aggregate defeat to Club Brugge in the Champions League qualifiers. While Martin temporarily eased pressure with a 2-0 win over Hibs to reach the Premier Sports Cup semi-finals, fan protests dominated the day. Thousands voiced their frustration before kick-off, and the game was momentarily stopped when supporters threw tennis balls onto the pitch.
Speaking on talkSPORT Daily, McCoist said: “Normally, I believe managers should get two windows to build their squad, but in Russell Martin’s case, things are different. The protests and the results are making it nearly impossible.”
He noted that while Martin inherited recruitment issues, the lack of improvement under his watch has deepened the crisis: “Recruitment was poor before Martin arrived, and it hasn’t looked any better since. But when fans turn on you, that’s one of the two things that usually seals a manager’s fate the other being poor results.”
When host Jeff Stelling suggested losing fan support is often the final straw, McCoist agreed: “Once the majority of the fanbase turns against a manager, it’s extremely hard to recover. It’s nearly impossible. For Russell Martin, it looks like his time is almost up.”
