Russell Martin on Rangers brink LIVE as Barry Ferguson tells under fire boss what his priorities must be

I know the group stage can be really rewarding financially for the club.

But right now? I have to admit, as a supporter, I really don’t care about Europe.

The priority for me now has to be the league and climbing back up that Premiership table.

That, along with the two domestic cups. That’s all that matters to me.

Europe is a bonus. And people might think I’m crazy because of the league position - but there’s still an opportunity for Rangers to challenge.

That’s why it’s so important they put a run of wins together, starting with Falkirk on Sunday when they have to get three points.

Celtic aren’t firing on all cylinders. I know Hearts are flying high but there’s still 32 games to play.

Domestically, there’s still so much to play for. I genuinely don’t think there’s a better time for Rangers to go and fight for a title.

But obviously to do that, they need to start winning every week in the league.

What’s the alternative, to give up? That wouldn’t even come into my thinking - maybe it’s the way I was brought up at Rangers.

I’m not daft, I know it’s a massive task now after the start they’ve made.

But when you put on that jersey, you can never give in.

So the players have to forget Thursday night, roll their sleeves up, get a win on Sunday then put a run of victories together.

Because for those fans at the team hotel in Graz the other night, that’s all they really want.

If Max is saying that, then he's probably found that a bit himself. I think it's probably the first time in his career he's had to deal with that level of intensity and scrutiny, and for a lot of them.

But it's something you have to deal with when you come here.

And you can really see it as a privilege or see it as a bit of a threat and a problem.

So we have to help people come through that if it is problematic. But no, we just have to focus on winning games of football.

Of course you (feel sympathy for him), because you're a human being.

You do feel for him. There's abuse and there's going too far. I've seen with another manager [Stuart Kettlewell at Motherwell] last season, he came away from it because of that.

Sometimes you get guys saying to you, 'I don't know how you do it'.

But we love the game. It's a huge part of it.

I have a lot of sympathy because sometimes it's going too far.

You can't be doing that type of thing. You shouldn't be (having to get) escorted to training and such.

Yeah, it comes down to each individual, right?

We all control what we do on the pitch, so we all have to look at ourselves in the mirror and take responsibility for what's not going right.

We can't look and point fingers now. Each individual has to be better themselves and yeah, ultimately that's going to help us.

Is that happening? I can't answer that for you. We have a big group of almost 30 players, but if we're not doing that then we're going to continue having the same struggles.

So I think we have to do that.

It's not really a choice. We play for Rangers and we have a responsibility when playing for Rangers and if we're not able to improve individually then it's going to be a long, long season.

It’s a mentality thing. We need to look at it, be brighter and help each other more. We have a lot of young men who will have to learn really quickly.

We have to improve the mentality quickly because it’s not a technical, tactical problem. The mentality in the second half was brilliant: to compete, to fight, to run. We didn’t do that in the first 20 minutes and paid the price.

The mentality is the problem, it’s not like we’re not doing what we should do on a set play. That’s a mentality issue in the first part of the game.

It’s an interesting and frustrating time (to be manager of this football club) because we’ve shown signs of so much growth and improvement and even in this game there’s some brilliant moments but it’s frustrating to lose. It’s all about Sunday now.

Like every other Rangers supporter I’ve seen the videos from Graz the other night.

Unfortunately, it’s not goals and a Europa League victory we’re talking about.

The clips were of fans having it out with Kevin Thelwell and Patrick Stewart in the team hotel after a 2-1 defeat.

When it’s your club, it’s never nice to witness. You don’t want to see it plastered all over social media.

You want to see celebration, not confrontation after a European tie.

Fans have every right to be frustrated and ask questions when things aren’t going well.

After all, it’s THEIR club. They pay their money to go and watch Rangers all over Europe so are entitled to have their say.

They care so much. They’re passionate about their club winning and when it’s not happening, there’s bound to be frustration.

As long as it doesn’t cross a line, I can never criticise Rangers supporters.

And when you work for the club, you have to listen to them - whether you agree or not.

Remember, I’ve stood there and taken it myself. I got it in the neck at times last season as manager.

And that’s me, someone who grew up as one of them. But I had to take it. It’s not pleasant but they’re worried about their club and you have to understand that.

As a player or manager, if I was faced with the situation Kevin or Patrick found themselves in on Thursday night - I’d speak to the supporters.

You HAVE to. You can’t ignore them and have to give them their time.

I’ve always been like that because I know they’re the heartbeat of the club.

When you work for Rangers, you have to accept that. Because the pressure of being at this club is like nothing anywhere else.

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