I've one thing to say about this Rangers team with Russell Martin being judged four months early - Barry Ferguson

I've one thing to say about this Rangers team with Russell Martin being judged four months early – Barry Ferguson

Record Sport columnist Fergie was hugely impressed by the character shown by Martin's troops in Athens

Rangers head coach Russell Martin at full time (Image: SNS Group)

Everyone and their dog was saying the same thing when Panathinakos came out of the hat – it’s the one tie Rangers didn’t want.

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Over the last few weeks, people were suggesting that Champions League qualifer was a nightmare for Russell Martin, the toughest possible start to his Rangers career.

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What if they go out? Where’s that going to leave him? The pressure will be piling on him and the players before the season’s even started.

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But, personally, I wasn’t giving a second thought to the potential consequences or the possible downsides.

I’m sure the new manager would have felt the same way. It’s not about getting your knickers in a twist and worrying about what might go wrong.

It’s about confronting the next challenge head on and getting the result required to move onto the next one. It’s about relishing the opportunity and concentrating on the positives.

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I know that’s not the way most minds work in this part of the world.

There’s a tendency up here to search for the worst possible scenario at all times. We can be real doom and gloom merchants.

So, yes, it probably was the tie that no-one wanted. But guess what? Who’s in the next round?

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And yet even though the job was completed successfully in Athens on Wednesday night there has still been quite a mixed reaction to the way Rangers went about getting it done.

Russell Martin congratulates his players (Image: SNS Group)

All I’d say to those supporters who have expressed some early reservations is that, for now, let’s just focus on the big picture.

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Were the details perfect? Absolutely not.

But the good news is the manager and his players can look back on them now and work on improving them on the training ground.

The little details can be ironed out after the final whistle and that’s what happens when you’ve got a work in progress. It’s part of the deal.

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However, there would have been no second chance in this season’s Champions League had the result gone the other way and that’s the be-all-and-end-all as far as the big picture is concerned.

So, rather than waste time and energy trying to pick holes in the performance or the style of play, just enjoy the fact that Rangers have got up and running and are safely into the next round where they will have a great chance of getting through against Viktoria Plzen.

What people struggle to understand is just how difficult these ties can be at this stage in the summer, especially away from home.

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The heat is ridiculous, you’re going to have to ride your luck, the opposition is going to have opportunities.

And that’s when you’re just hoping that your defenders and your main man - the goalkeeper - come up with big moments.

That’s exactly what the likes of John Souttar and Jack Butland delivered despite some serious adversity. And Martin will be delighted by that.

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Yes, it was a little bit hairy at times. Edge of the seat stuff in moments as the Greeks came forward in waves of attack.

But the one thing I will say is that this Rangers team didn’t cave in. When the opening goal went in it was all about how they would deal with the set-back.

That was an issue at points last season.

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There were times when, if things went wrong during a game, the players suffered out there. It hurt them. So, yes, when Panathinaikos got their noses in front I wasn’t sure what to expect.

The home crowd was going wild, the atmosphere was cranked up four or five notches and, after almost an hour of playing in energy-sapping conditions, it could have gone either way..

But the players reacted brilliantly to get an equaliser straight away and, once that had hit the back of the net, they saw the game out expertly.

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It was impressive, given the circumstances and it will help them grow as a team And the most important thing of all is they got through it and into the next round. I keep saying it. Football is not all that complicated.

Whether you’re in a one off game or a two-legged affair the only thing you have to focus on is scoring more goals than the opposition. That’s it. Simple.

Yes, Russell will want to see his team improve in terms of the quality of performance and he admitted after the match that they have to get better at what he’s asking them to do. But that’s all part of the process and it’s going to take time.

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If Rangers are playing like this and making the same mistakes four months into the season then, yes, that would be a cause for concern.

Goal hero Djeidi Gassama (Image: SNS Group)

But he’s hardly four weeks into the job so let’s give the manager and his players a bit of credit and congratulate them for achieving the first major objective that was thrown at them when that draw was made.

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There will be more changes to come. The squad will look very different again when the window closes at the end of this month. And yes, there will inevitably be growing pains along the way.

But Russell Martin couldn’t have got off to a better start in terms of meeting the first demand and the most important remit of being the manager of Rangers. He found a way to win.

He also may have uncovered a real game changer in Djeidi Gassama who, for the second time in a week, came off the bench to score a stunning goal. Wednesday’s strike was as sweet as a nut and it was flying into the net from the second it left his boot.

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And from that moment Rangers were never in any danger.

These are the positives that the supporters should be focussing on and there will be more to come as the manager continues to shape the squad and to work on his style of play.

Wednesday might not have been perfect but it was good enough for the here and now and that’s what matters most of all.

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It also allows some momentum to build going into Saturday’s league opener at Motherwell and these players will be realising there is no time to take a breath when you’re representing a club of this size.

That’s the way it always has been when you pull on that shirt. That’s the way it always should be.

Concentrate on the basics and let other people obsess about the details .

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Win the game that’s in front of you and then find a way to win all over again a few days later. It really doesn’t have to be any more complicated than that.

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