30/01/19 WLLIAM HILL SCOTTISH CUP 4th ROUND.COWDENBEATH v RANGERS.CENTRAL PARK - COWDENBEATH.Rangers kitman Jimmy Bell (left) speaks with Cowdenbeath chairman Donald Findlay ahead of kick off . (Photo by Craig Foy/SNS Group via Getty Images)
When a brand-new manager arrives at a club, and he knows there are significant doubts about his appointment, there are numerous steps he can take to ingratiate himself with the support. A lot of those doors are closed to Russell Martin.
But I am pretty appalled at the one he’s chosen to walk through, and I hope this isn’t the start of his descent into goonishness.
Whatever else has been said about Martin the manager, most people who’ve met him—or know him by reputation—are impressed by Martin the man and they’re impressed by him for reasons that might not endear him to the Ibrox support.
He’s thoughtful and intelligent. A little bit out there too. He’s socially conscious. He’s religious—not in the marching-down-the-street-on-the-12th-of-July sort of way that they’re used to over there—but a Buddhist. And if you’ve ever looked into Buddhism, you’ll know it’s all about peace and harmony.
He’s also a Green Party member. And a vegan.
He’s a self-described weirdo, and I’m sure he means that in the best possible way. I certainly do. He’s a guy I’d go for a drink with, because I think he’d be an interesting conversationalist. He talks well—as anyone who watched his press conference knows. He is not like the traditional manager across the city. And that’s one of the reasons they’re a little bit wary of him.
But when you look at the socio-political makeup of their support, and consider that intellectual prowess is not a defining trait, not being one of them should be something he wears as a badge of honour.
They might not like it, but tough.
They’re now owned by American Catholics and managed by a Green Party vegan Buddhist. The woke ideologues are in total command over there now. And that’s how it should be. That club is changing. It’s transforming into something new. And it’s good to know there are people like that at the helm.
Which is why I’m disappointed by his pandering to the ragbag Union Brat brigade. All this talk about the dead kitman, how friendly they were, how they bonded over whisky discussing the “culture” of the club; if I were Russell Martin, I would be as far away from that kind of nonsense as I could possibly get. As an attempt to ingratiate yourself with your new fanbase, it’s the worst possible step.
Martin is an individualist. That’s why he’s likeable. I hope he’s not the type to go down that road, into that mindset. That mindset is what Bell represented. I make no apology for the scathing article I wrote upon his passing. I could not care less who was offended by it—I’ve been offended my whole life by people like him. The idea of Scottish football honouring people like that makes my stomach turn.
So as far as I’m concerned, it’s a major lapse in judgement from Russell Martin to talk that way, to try and buy favour with the craziest section of the support. I hoped that section is on its way out. They are not to be encouraged in any way, shape or form, because they might not be around for much longer.
The Americans appointed him. His arrival represents a clean break with the kind of arrogant, entitled fools that club has installed over the years. He should cling to the things that got him to where he is. Instead, he’s embracing the lunacy of that place—the lunacy that has consumed so many before him.
It would be good to have someone over there who sees us as rivals, not enemies. Who sees us as opponents to beat, not people to despise.
It is possible to manage that club without buying into the madness. Van Bronckhorst managed it well. He maintained friendships with people at Celtic and was not embarrassed about it in the least. He got some stick—but the people handing it out are the very ones Martin shouldn’t be listening to.
He has no idea of the opportunity in front of him—not just as a manager, but as the public face of that institution. And all the guff about culture and ethos and how he learned it from Jimmy Bell… it’s a little disturbing.
It makes me disappointed. I’m never going to be his number one fan, obviously. I’m going to write a lot of stuff over the next 12 months charting every one of his screw-ups, mistakes and setbacks—some of it with a great deal of glee, I’m sure.
That’s business. Not personal.
But it would be nice to have someone over there who doesn’t provoke intense dislike. Someone who doesn’t fall down the rabbit hole and, in fact, actively rejects it out of hand. All this crap demeans him. I really wish he’d resisted the urge.
It’s not a promising start. Not at all.
That photo.
One man whose undoubted intellect is polluted by his bigotry and another whose undoubted lack of it polluted…
Both look thrilled to be in each other’s company.
Surprised to read about him sniffing around Jimmy Bell’s glory hole. But then read Terry Butcher about how he was poisoned from the loving cup. Look what happened to Gerrard, Novo, Neil Doherty McCann et al. There’s something of Hades about the whole club, and anyone who associated with it ends up damned.
It was disturbing to read about the glorification of the despicable JB. I wonder just how much ownership RM has on that story. I read it as, someone at sevco, who fully understands how their fans think, (think?) and knowing there will be no games played for several weeks, placing a feel good (to the bears) story, in an attempt to quell the disquiet stemming from his appointment. The back pages of the Sunday Mail and, no doubt, tomorrow’s Record are / will be full of sevco puff pieces. The swamps and sewers of the world will be scoured to find someone, anyone with a connection to ibrox telling us how much of a success RM will be. Facts and logic will be thin on the ground.
Yeah, I read that nauseating guff about Martin’s dealings with Jimmy Bell and it was so obvious that he was trying to endear himself to the bitter staunchers that it was vomit inducing. I hadn’t placed him in any sort of bracket just yet because I don’t really know anything about him, but that claptrap certainly put me right off him.
But surely Martin is just recounting something which actually happened, rather than making something up to ingratiate himself with the knuckle dragging element. His main point was that incident surprised him as it made him feel his time there wasn’t completely frowned upon, due to his personality rather than his performances on the pitch.
He’s going against the grain now by declaring that Tavernier is a big part of his plans, which doesn’t follow a pattern of ingratiating himself with the knuckle draggers, who want Tavernier as far from their Klub as possible.
The appointment also shows that the new consortium have no truck whatsoever with that horrendous element, in fact they look like they quite openly don’t give two shits about them or their opinions.
I dabbled with veganism once but it’s a lot a shite, Buddhism, like all religions, is a lot of shite, the Green Party are a lot shite. All nice ideas but dig a little deeper and they’re all a lot of shite. This latest outburst from Martin, “embracing the lunacy of that place” I would say is in character.
All shite then ?
As you have pointed out repeatedly the Americans have said nowt since getting control. Time will tell if they are on a clean up exercise. Theres a bit of me thinks they need to keep these arseholes on side to generate the income they will need to strip out and line there pockets
Fully agree James. Just one quibble, in this article and in your earlier post on ‘ the need for a Regulator’ you referred to the Ibrox Club as an institution.
To be pedantic, they and their enablers, the Meedjia who else, bestowed upon them that title after Murray made the claim over 30 years ago. That Club Died, whether ‘ Institution’ or not it snuffed it.
The current residents of the DebtDome are just an impoverished facsimile, the The Tribute Act. Please don’t afford them the respect or reverence due to true Institutions.
Murray wasn’t all that wrong, for an asylum is an institution as well.
Ha Ha – Very good Johnny !!!!
Didn’t take long for Martin to be corrupted, maybe he is not so smart as I thought
It appears in the Rangers review from its editor Joshua Barrie, that says it all, I think that Martin has been advised to make comments like this to ingratiate himself with the bigots. Martin comes from the South of England and although he played with them for a short while, I don’t think he probably realised what “tradition” means down Ibrox way.
Martin will soon find out that it’s a tradition not to give Managers much time to settle in at Ibrox, a couple of defeats early in the season and the traditional sound of boos will resonate around the Stadium of Hate.
Just shows how desperate he must be for a job.
Sounds a bit of a fruitcake,so he’ll be right at home there.
Not sure if he chose to say this or was advised about it…
Perhaps the truth is somewhere in the middle –
Oh Bloody Hell – I beg the world’s forgiveness so I do as there obviously is not one iota of truth at Liebrox !
Honest to god the reverence and column inches (Not yours James) devoted to this sectarian,nonentity sums up a lot of what’s wrong in Scottish football,and I include the ridiculous Supertrooper chant sung at CP