Rangers boss Russell Martin last night refused to take any blame or responsibility for his team’s Champions League horror show against Club Brugge.
The Ibrox side are now on the brink of elimination after a woeful performance saw them fall to a 3-1 defeat against the Belgians in the first leg of their play-off tie in Glasgow.
Brugge led 3-0 after just 20 minutes as Rangers were ripped apart, with Martin’s side making a series of costly blunders in defence.
The atmosphere turned toxic and, despite pulling a goal back through Danilo in the second half, Rangers will almost certainly drop down into the Europa League.
The result heaped more pressure on under-fire Martin, with boos raining down from the stands and a growing number of fans calling for him to be sacked already.
But he absolved himself from any blame, claiming the problems were not tactical and that he could do nothing to influence matters from the touchline.
Russell Martin tries to get his message across on a night where nothing went right for Rangers
Jorne Spileers wheels away after putting Brugge two goals to the good after seven minutes
Centre-half Brandon Mechele unleashes a terrific third goal for the visitors in the 20th minute
‘You can’t impact it from the sidelines,’ he said. ‘You put a game plan in place to try and win the game, but the decision-making changes because we’re so anxious.
‘When you’re 2-0 down after seven minutes, tactics don’t come into it. For the next half hour, I didn’t see anything we’d worked on.
‘Guys were waiting for the ball because of the tension in the crowd, guys were jumping to press out of desperation.
‘It’s not about tactics or style of play, it’s about reacting emotionally about the damage that’s been inflicted. We didn’t respond well enough to it.
‘We can’t concede goals like that, at any level, at any club, it’s madness.
‘We were far too open, that wasn’t the game plan. In the second half, we didn’t change very much but we were much more competitive and looked a threat.
Martin and Raskin are left deflected at the end of a bruising 90 minutes at Ibrox
‘The players ran really hard for each other and I’m proud of them for that. The tie is not over. It’s still alive. We will go over there as underdogs next week. I’ll enjoy that and I think the players will as well.’
Rangers made a disastrous start when Nasser Djiga blundered to gift Brugge the opening goal. Nicky Hayen’s side ran riot and were 3-0 up by 20 minutes.
Some fans inside Ibrox decided to leave, whilst, in the Bill Struth Main Stand, a scuffle broke out among a few disgruntled supporters.
Asked about the atmosphere, Martin said: ‘That’s as hard as it will ever be for these players, we won’t have that level of pain again.
‘The energy was completely different in the second half and I’m really proud of them for that because it wasn’t easy. That’s the hardest a lot of these players are going to face.
‘The fans are all entitled to their opinion but we’re going to need them so much. This club has had a long period, bar one season, where it hasn’t been as successful as it wants to be so we need to come together.
It was contrasting emotions at full-time for rival bosses Russell Martin and Nicky Hayen
‘The team is going to need the fans. The precursor to change is pain. I knew coming here there was going to be some pain early on. We need to make sure the pain is worth it.
‘We will grow together through this but we have to grow together as a club. We need to give supporters more moments like we did in the second half. The fans are the most important people in the club.
‘We want to qualify for the Champions League and we’ll do everything we can next week.
‘The club has bounced around through too many plans that haven’t really worked. We have a plan. The level of resilience the team showed tonight, we will grow from that I really believe it.’
