Kevin Thelwell tells Russell Martin Rangers must do better and quickly

Kevin Thelwell tells Russell Martin Rangers must do better and quickly

The Ibrox sporting director has sent the beleaguered boss he and his team have to lift the game

Rangers transfer window rated | Russell Martin’s must win against Hearts | What now for Nico Raskin?

Kevin Thelwell admits Rangers “must do better” - but confirmed beleaguered boss Russell Martin is going nowhere.

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The new Ibrox gaffer is fighting for his managerial survival having suffered a disastrous start to life in Glasgow.

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Martin has watched Rangers slip six points behind Celtic in the title race just four games into the Premiership campaign while he also presided over a record-equalling 6-0 defeat to Club Brugge in the Champions League play-offs.

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Combined with a bitter internal stand-off with star man Nico Raskin, it has led to large-scale calls from supporters for Martin to be axed already.

But Thelwell confirmed he and the club’s new American owners continue to back the former MK Dons, Swansea and Southampton coach.

And he confirmed Raskin will be invited to sit down and patch up relations with the boss once he returns from international duty with Belgium.

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Speaking to Rangers TV, he said: “Clearly we must do better, but let's be honest. In reality, what we've delivered so far hasn't been good enough. And I think we all understand that that needs to improve and we're all frustrated with that.

“But also, I would also say to you there is a huge amount of alignment within this building and there's a huge amount of alignment with leadership team and ownership that believes that we're heading in the right direction and believes that we can deliver that success that everybody is craving with the group of people that we're currently working with.

"And so on that basis, we'll be working tirelessly and working as hard as we possibly can to deliver that. And I also appreciate that needs to be delivered quickly.

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Russell Martin and Brendan Rodgers

"What I can't do is I can't sit here and say we need patience and we need time and people need to wait because we haven't earned that. But there just needs to be some perspective. And so all I can say to you is we'll be working as hard as we possibly can to deliver what we know that everybody wants, which is a winning and successful team.

“There's been a huge amount going on and everybody has been well documented.

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“New ownership, new sporting director, new technical director, new head coach, new coaching team and then a lot of new players.

“We've been working away at trying to build a team out that hopefully in due time, everybody will be very proud of.

“I appreciate that that hasn't translated just yet into performances on the pitch and fundamentally results. And I think we all understand what needs to happen here.

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“We need to win football matches and we want to win football matches in a particular way.

“And of course, we're disappointed with that start that we've made. And frustrated. We also understand that the fans are frustrated.

"And in particular, I'd turn to one game in particular that I think is the most disappointing for us, which is the Club Bruges game away. So, a very difficult game for everybody, the fans included. And I think we all understand or certainly understood after that game that we needed to put it right quickly.

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“And hopefully we'll do that over the course of the next games. But a lot of work done. And I appreciate nobody's yet seen the value of that.

“But hopefully in due course, we will. And we can give everybody a team to be proud of.”

On Martin - who has won just three of his 11 games in charge so far - Thelwell said: “From my perspective, again, I'm looking at the people that I have worked with over the course of time, some very, very good managers, some very good head coaches, and I'm looking at what Russell's delivering on a day to day basis.

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“And it's of a very high standard. I think we've got a clear message in terms of what we want to try to achieve.

“And that hasn't changed from the first moment that we were both appointed, effectively, which is we want an aggressive team. We want a team that has a higher level of intensity. We want the fanbase to be proud of a team that holds and has similar values, honesty, hard work, respect, humility out on the pitch.

“I think we've seen glimpses of that. I don't think we've quite put together a body of work that says we've seen that consistently, but I don't necessarily think that's down to one point. And we've already talked about the consequence of change.

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“But I am very confident that that will come in due course based on what I see on a day to day basis, which is a coach and a group of coaches that are working very, very hard in terms of delivering very strong messages, very strong coaching sessions, very strong support for players to hopefully get everybody to understand exactly what is required on the pitch and then go out and do it.

“I understand we've got to do it. And so hopefully when we get back to the Hearts game and the games going forwards, we'll see a bit more of what we saw in the Old Firm.”

Raskin was a shock absentee from the team that drew with Celtic in Sunday’s opening derby of the season.

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Martin refused to go into the bust-up that saw Gers’ main man from last season dropped but rumours swirled the city over the weekend claiming the 24-year-old had been told he will never play for the club again.

Record Sport revealed on Monday that Raskin is now ready to sit down and thrash out his differences with Martin once he returns from Red Devils duty next week.

And Thelwell confirmed the door is open for the midfielder to patch up relations with his boss.

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He told Rangers TV: “To my mind, what happens is he goes on international duty, he comes back as a Rangers player. And when he comes back, Russell and I sit down with Nico and talk about what we do next.

“And again, it's very, very important that we all understand that we all want the same thing. We all want a better Rangers team. We all want a stronger Rangers team and we all want a winning Rangers team.

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“And I think it's also important to make the point that this year is a very important year for Nico. You know, he's a terrific player. He's obviously a full Belgium international.

“He's got a World Cup coming up. I'm sure he's going to want to be a strong part of that. And so him doing his best for Rangers and playing as well for Rangers is going to be important to him.

“And of course, it's going to be important to us. So a conversation to be had in due course.”

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