'Play forward, but always with purpose' - Rangers fans given insight into Russell Martin's football philosophy

Rangers fans have already been provided with an insight into what they can expect to see from a Russell Martin side going forward.

The 39-year-old Englishman has been appointed as the club’s new head coach on a three-year contract and will be officially paraded in the next 48 hours after convincing Ibrox chairman Andrew Cavenagh, sporting director Kevin Thelwell and CEO Patrick Stewart that he was the standout candidate for the job.

Martin has been out of work since December after being sacked by Southampton just six month after leading them back to the English Premier League via the Championship play-offs.

It’s believed he had been in talks with Leicester City over their vacant managerial position, but has knocked back the chance to replace Ruud van Nistelrooy in favour of completing a return to Glasgow instead.

But what should supporters expect from the ex-central defender, who also had stints in charge of MK Dons and Swansea City and spent time on loan in Govan towards the end of his playing career. GlasgowWorld takes a closer look at Martin’s credentials...

Russell Martin’s footballing philosophy explained

It was clear from an early stage that Martin boasted coaching aspirations. As a teenager, he struggled to make it as a professional player.

Explaining his footballing philosophy on Sky Sports Monday Night Football in March, he revealed: “I had started my badges at college at 17 because I thought that would be my way into the game I didn't think I was going to have a career. I wasn't signed at a pro club, I was playing non-league and playing for my college, and I was going on a scholarship to America to study.

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“I still had a dream of becoming a professional but I just loved watching football, analysing it and I had a real idea of what I wanted to do with a team. So I thought that would be my way in, then fortunately I got a break at Wycombe.”

While Martin admits he has taken something from all of the previous managers he has worked under, he wanted to be his “own person” as “to really convince someone to do something, you have to really believe in it.”

He added: “Most of my career I spent writing stuff down in notebooks, doing my badges on the bus and the lads hammering me when I'm getting the laptop out. I tried to take as much as I could from every single one.”

Subsequently, Martin has adopted a very possession-based style of play, with a stubborn refusal to change his beliefs. During his time at MK Dons, the club set a British record in March 2021 with a goal scored from a 56-pass move.

He continued: “We were criticised at times for playing out from the back [at MK Dons] but I had to show them all the good stuff they were doing and that the risk and reward was in our favour.

“The goalkeeper's a big part of that and creating the spare man. It's always about finding the spare man early on in the concept and then take territory and play forward, but always with purpose.”

Martin earned plenty of plaudits for sticking by the system while at Swansea, despite winning less than 38 per cent of his games at both clubs.

He enjoyed initial success on the South Coast, but confessed his “biggest challenge” was convincing the players they “could do it regularly in the Premier League.”

Martin’s decision to stick by his philosophy ultimately cost him his job at St Mary’s but it's an eye-catching style of football that Rangers fans can expect him to carry on as “the coach's job is to find a problem and find a solution or work out what the next problem is going to be.”

Key dates for Russell Martin to work towards

Russell Martin and his first-team squad will report for pre-season training on June 23 ahead of the new campaign.

Martin’s first taste of the Ibrox dugout comes on July 6 when they host Club Brugge, who finished second in the Belgian Pro League, in their first pre-season friendly.

The club will then depart for a training camp from July 7 at St George's Park before facing Champions League qualifiers later that month, with the first leg on July 22/23 and the return tie on July 29/30.

Middlesbrough - who finished 10th in the EFL Championship last term - then visit Ibrox on July 26 in a final warm-up fixture before the Scottish Premiership campaign gets underway on August 2/3 - with fixtures for the new season out on June 20.