NafisaShug admits the ultimate bragging rights coup puts pressure of Rodgers as well as Martin as 49ers better brace for Gers AGM
When Russell Martin was MK Dons manager, the story goes his team once scored a goal which came after 56 passes in the build-up. That’s what you call possession football.
Rangers fans will have time to leave their seats, buy a pie, and sit back down again before the creation of a goal leads to its execution.
Whether Martin ’s trademark style – philosophy, call it what you like – is appealing to those fans in the long run is, of course, now a topic for legitimate debate following his appointment at Ibrox on Thursday.
And 56 passes to create a goal is, undeniably, a long run. But number 56 is also at the core of the most pressing concern for Russell and Gers fans.
Brendan Rodgers’ Celtic side won their 55th league title in the season just ended, equalling Rangers’ previously held record on that front.
The Old Firm side who wins the Premiership in the season to come will create a bragging rights’ coup unparalleled in the history of a rivalry that goes back to the 19th Century.
It puts inordinate pressure on Martin – and Rodgers. Brendan is, until such time as we receive evidence to the contrary, approaching his final season in charge of Celtic.
His entry into the club’s folklore will be assured if his swansong is to become the first ever Celtic manager to win three Trebles.
A history-making distinction that was denied the Irishman last month after his team’s grotesquely bad performance against Aberdeen in the Scottish Cup final – but still it remains open to him before, or if, he goes elsewhere.
Conversely, Rodgers could be denied localised immortality by a controversial figure yet to win over his own club’s support, never mind anything else.
Martin’s three-year contract at Ibrox is, for those ultra- pessimistic regarding his arrival there, split into two parts.
One year’s wages followed by two years’ compensation when his unsuitability for the role of manager necessitates the termination of his employment.
It is the insult he has to work hard to prove is inaccurate.
I have no interest in Martin’s religious persuasion, dietary requirements or political inclination – all of which have been laid bare for public consumption.
But I do know every fibre of his being will be put to the test by this kind of introduction to his new surroundings. Buddhism doesn’t prepare you for Glasgow.
The Dalai Lama would get a hard time if he was manager and not getting results.
Rangers’ appointment of a man fired by his previous club Southampton midway through last season, means the club remains a source of fascination.
No sooner had a former board room member, Alistair Johnston, said the club’s new owners 49ers Enterprises would “extinguish the rot” that has damaged Rangers for well over a decade, than the American consortium’s judgement was called into question.
Martin gave a composed account of himself at his inaugural press conference, using all the appropriate buzzwords about building a “culture”, winning trophies and meeting the fans’ expectations.
It’s articulacy without the problem of accountability. Talking a good game without the bother of having to play one.
That process begins next month when competitive matches have to be played in Europe.
Being described as the “outstanding candidate” for the Ibrox job by chief executive Patrick Stewart forms the debate for the present day.
If Andrew Cavenagh, the public face of the Californian cavalry, wants to make money outwith the planned share issue – and that’s a certainty – he could always sell the television rights to the club’s Annual General Meeting for shareholders on June 23.
It is the definition of box office and will be unlike any other shareholders’ gathering he, or any of his associates, have ever witnessed in their business lives.
It has always been said that the United States and Britain are two places separated by a common language. You ain’t seen, or heard, nothing yet.
The unbridled optimism created by Rangers’ takeover has now, less than two weeks later, given way to something approaching apoplectic criticism of a managerial appointment.
Supporters wanted the A-list, Hollywood-sized appointee. They got the man who might be a slow burn instead of a raging inferno.
Supporters are emotionally invested in their club. Rangers’ new owners are financially invested in their business project.
They want to create financial sustainability where there has been none for quite some time. The fans want cash scattered in the transfer market like a man with no arms.
This is the culture clash Cavenagh and his cohorts will need to confront when they sit at the top table and invite questions from the floor at June 23’s AGM.
They have already been accused of making a mistake of gargantuan proportions by hiring Martin.
Even though there is not a shred of evidence to substantiate the charge because Russell has yet to begin work.
It’s not as if Cavenagh will one day go down in infamy, either, as the man who turned down Davide Ancelotti, since the former Real Madrid coach had apparently undergone a change of mind with regard to joining Rangers.
But it is a time-honoured tradition that directors and managers are assumed to be guilty until proven innocent. The People versus 49ers Enterprises will be a compelling watch. You lookin’ at me?
Nafisa
