Former Celtic manager hopes Russell Martin 'can turn it around' as pressure builds on Rangers boss
The former Celtic, Sunderland and Birmingham City manager hopes Martin’s fortunes change as ‘Scottish football needs a strong Rangers’
There’s nothing quite like the pressure of being an old firm manager. The passion of the fans, the importance of winning every single game, along with the demand for trophies makes it one of the toughest roles in the world.
Russell Martin’s position as Rangers boss is hanging by a thread, as the Govan side were embarrassed by Club Brugge in their Champions League play-off match, losing 9-1 on aggregate. To make matters worse, Martin’s side have drawn three games out of three in the SPFL Premiership, not meeting the standards required for an old firm boss.
As Rangers now prepare for the first derby of the season against their bitter Glasgow rivals at Ibrox on Sunday, a former Celtic player and manager, who can perhaps sympathise with Martin, hopes the new gaffer can change his fortunes.
Mowbray hopes Martin ‘can turn it around’
Tony Mowbray had a forgettable stint as Celtic manager during the 2009/10 season. After a disappointing season, The Hoops fell ten points short of Rangers in March 2010, with a 4-0 defeat to St Mirren being the final nail in the coffin for the Celtic boss.
Perhaps because he knows the backlash that you can face by not performing at an old firm club, Mowbray has stuck up for Russell Martin as he revealed he hopes that the Rangers manager can bounce back for the good of Scottish Football.
Speaking alongside Sam Allardyce on the Footy Accumulators’ No Tippy Tappy Football podcast, he said: “the pressure from the media is so high, every national newspaper has 10 pages on Celtic and Rangers, and so the pressure just mounts and mounts until you go on a run.
“When you go and play the likes of St. Mirren, Motherwell and Kilmarnock, they raise their game. They defend for their lives and throw their bodies on the line. Those games against the Old Firm are massive. You have to fear for Russell Martin. I hope that Russell can turn it around because I think Scottish football needs a strong Rangers.”
Mowbray sympathises with the Rangers boss
In terms of the pressure being put on Russell Martin, Mowbray says that he can identify similarities with his time at Parkhead. He said: “I see a little bit of what happened to me at Celtic. I was trying to rebuild from the ashes of coming second the year before after Gordon Strachan had left and gone to Middlesbrough. It's really difficult. Walter Smith had Rangers firing.
“You go and all of a sudden within three league games in Scotland and they're talking about how much pressure Russell Martin's under. It feels very similar to when I was there, Celtic are in the ascendancy but haven't particularly played well in the league and yet won three-nil last week in a game that was nil-nil at halftime. They find a way to win, and the gap continues to get bigger and bigger.”
Mowbray also believes that Celtic have had a better transfer window, which has also not helped Martin’s case in trying to bridge the gap: “Celtic buy better players and Rangers are buying players from the likes of Luton and taking players from the Championship.
“The gap's too big between them, over the season it's way too much. Never mind an Old Firm derby coming this weekend. Rangers might win it, but they will still finish 15 points behind Celtic.”