When Nigel Adkins won Saints promotion back to the Premier League he attained legendary status at Southampton FC, despite his sacking half way through the next season, Russell Martin does not enjoy that adoration in SO postcodes and not in Glasgow either apparently.

The Daily Echo has been reporting on the appointment of former Southampton manager Russell Martin and it seems the Rangers supporters are reacting not just in a similar way to Saints fans when Martin was appointed at St Mary's which was somewhat lukewarm, but more like the Southampton social media just before he was eventually sacked.

When Russell Martin eventually arrived at St Mary's after a prolonged battle with Swansea City over compensation, Saints supporters were not enthused by his appointment.

As the season went on his 100% with no leeway style of possession football, did not gain him many admirers in the St Mary's fanbase, indeed there were many who felt that Saints underperformed and with the standard of squad should have gone up automatically.

That they went up in spite of Russell Martin and not because of him.

Indeed by mid April Saints were in trouble and had dropped out of any real chance of automatic promotion after a disastrous 5-0 defeat at Leicester City.

That was a low point and it was clear that his pass, pass & pass again, even if it is along your own goal line was not working.

There was one glimmer of hope however and that was that in the final regular season game he seemed to adapt his tactics a little and suddenly without the pressure on to pass the ball and not clear it, we went from the leakiest defence in the Division to the tightest with a 2-1 win over Leeds.

That formula continued in the play offs and our tight performances with players able to clear their lines when necessary gave hope that perhaps Russell Martin was adaptable, it certainly showed that we were a better team than we had shown during the season.

Any lingering hope that this would be carried into the Premier League was dispelled by the opening day when against a 10 man Newcastle side, goalkeeper Alex McCarthy tried to do a short pass to one of his defenders and saw it cut out and belted into an empty net for a 1-0 defeat.

This would be the case for the rest of Martin's tenure, with no Director of Football in place, he was free to run his own agenda and he did that to the maximum.

Russell Martin was not solely responsible for Southampton's worst season ever and relegation, but he was the architect of it and was left in place for too long and did irreparable damage that took us past the point of no return long before he left the club.

In truth he should have been sacked two months before he finally was, some would say 3 months, it was clear to all except whoever in St Mary's was in charge of the hiring and firing.

So Russell Martin should have been a legend to Southampton supporters, instead he stands in line with the likes of Ian Branfoot & Harry Redknapp as managers who cared little for the club's needs and cared only for their own.

You felt that Martin always felt that his own brand of possession football was destined for greater things, but he was not adaptable, it is ok playing like that if you are Manchester City and able to employ some of the best players in the Premier League if not the World.

But lesser clubs have to adapt and Martin could adapt as he proved at the end of 2023/24, but he utterly refused to do so.

Perhaps he will do well at Rangers, after all the Scottish Premiership is a two horse race, for most of the games his game will not get found out, but when they play Celtic with a manager who has his own tactics and a team that can play them, it might well be a different story.

Defeat to Celtic will be bad enough, to do so due to your defence trying to play possession football across their own six yard box and conceding goals would be seen as an act of treason.

If you look at Rangers supporters social media they are not happy with the appointment and that is an understatement.

Comments on social media reported by The Daily Echo include

"Russell Martin has lost the fans & he’s not even put the club tie on yet.
"He’s already a dead man walking & lose his first game at Ibrox & he’ll need air lifted out Ibrox by the SAS. He already doesn't stand a chance & that’s a sad state of affairs imo."

Others read.

RangersChat1873 said: "After all the hype of the takeover, fans getting excited over the prospect of a return to glory and picking up trophies. We're landed with Russell Martin to lead the charge. What an embarrassment."

@GaryThorn added: "I wish the club would just once listen to the fans! This is a disastrous appointment! All these weeks waiting for an announcement and this is what we get! Complete failure on the club for this business! He was nobodies preferred candidate!"

TeddyPicker990 fumed: "Absolute shambles, we never learn. Sacked by November, rinse and repeat. Celtic move further ahead."

@danRFC1872 said: "Dunno how Russell managed to convince the board but out of all the candidates, fair play. Better start winning on day one or he’s out by October."

Very few Rangers fans seem to be in favour of the appointment, the best that can be said in his favour is that he might be better than some previous managers.

"The reaction to the appointment of Russell Martin has been wild. Not sure I’ve ever seen a reaction to a manager like that before he’s even stepped foot in the door. Good thing fans have a great track record in their choice and got it so right with the clamour for Michael Beale."

Just over a year ago at Wembley, Russell Martin presided over one of the best days in most Southampton supporters lives, at least those under 60, when we won promotion through the play offs.

That was the catalyst that saw a euphoria amongst the fans base not seen for almost a decade, but Russel Martin was not acclaimed by the fans.

Within 3 months of that day, his stock was lower than 90% of all his predecessors in the job, it was clear that he was running his own agenda and that is about promoting Russell Martin as a manager who can win trophies playing possession football.

From that viewpoint there is an argument that if he was in charge of Manchester City they would win trophies, but that isn't the case at most clubs.

It will take time for Russell Martin to be found out at Ibrox, we will know how long when the fixtures come out and the first Auld Firm game has it's date.

All Photos Via Reuters

beynali73 added 11:59 - Jun 5 From memory the turning point was when Bazuna got injured and RM seemed to realise that McCarthy could not play the gratuitous passing game (to be honest neither could the others). It was weird then that he resorted to suicide football from day 1 in the prem. To give him his due though he did bond a disparate and despondent team and got them promoted in his first season.

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Monksway added 12:08 - Jun 5 Saints were a complete shambles when RM arrived. He and Wilcox managed to restructure the team and create a coherent, competitive squad with a clear style that ultimately got us promoted, albeit by the back door. The failure was that RM's over confidence in that squad and the general hype after Wembley meant that we failed to improve it with the required quality and simply increased the squad size with average players. RM's inexperience didn't help in the face of some awful results and the resulting ebbing away of confidence from those players that had overachiever the year before. Saints fans are more divided over RM than you suggest and many of us wish him well at Rangers.

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athripp added 12:23 - Jun 5 Glasgow Rangers eh!! Another side full of delusional followers who think they are something they are not. Good luck with this appointment Russell. My god you will have a few egos to manage off the pitch this time. Always thought you would be ok in League 1 down here. Well you are just a tad higher than that now in Glasgow.
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dowater added 14:05 - Jun 5 He's going to need security guards guarding him and his family up there. 1 loss to a local rival, esp if its from a defensive error and who knows what those mad Ba*tard supporters will do to him.
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Bowlercow added 14:12 - Jun 5 Personally I enjoyed our season in the championship under the guidance of a modern coach Let's face it he got us promoted playing possession football and I,and thousands of others,enjoyed it He fully included the fans and bigged up our club He was let down by poor recruitment last summer I wish him and Rangers all the best for next season and after Especiall against Brenda Bodgers who dissed our club when at Liverpoo

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A1079 added 16:13 - Jun 5 I almost sense that there is a willingness within our fanbase for RM to fail and I am struggling to understand why. He is not a bad person and he was not by far a disaster with us or a complete failure. He came in when the team was in a mess. He had a style which to a large extent worked in the championship and got us promoted, albeit via the playoffs. His failure or error of judgement was his intransigence and unwillingness to adjust to the situation and for it he paid a heavy price by trying that in the PL. Now, whether the outcome would have been different had he been more flexible is a moot point because nothing improved after his dismissal. It was right that RM went when he did but I believe he has potential to do well somewhere and hopefully he will have learnt a few things from his experience with us. I wish him well and who knows - the Scottish league is a different kettle of fish.

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underweststand added 16:30 - Jun 5 There's a lot more " rough and tumble " in the SPL, and the Gers fans are fed-up finishing second place to Celtic all the time, so RM must surely find away to freshen up the rigid formation he used with us for 60-odd games. I don't wish him ill, but his tenure might be short-lived if he doesn't start getting results from Day 1. The upside for Saints maybe we won't need to continue paying "compensation" to him now that he's been re-employed? , and that he might come back to get his "followers" like Wood, Manning ...and even try to get Downes to follow him...? Time will tell.

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silverspringsaint added 20:38 - Jun 5 Right with you on this one, A1079. Let’s cut the guy some slack and wish him well in his new appointment.
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Flamingbankers added 18:39 - Jun 8 Martin was a rotten manager who frankly didn't have clue. We got promotion despite Martin with a squad that should have qualified automatically. If Martin continues as he did at St Mary's, it's not just Celtic that Rangers will have trouble with, it's any team that presses with confidence. I predict he'll be out by November if not before. I can't fathom how anybody sees any point in his style of football unless you have world class players.

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