{"id":331701,"date":"2025-08-09T23:14:18","date_gmt":"2025-08-09T23:14:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/331701\/"},"modified":"2025-08-09T23:14:18","modified_gmt":"2025-08-09T23:14:18","slug":"russell-martin-surprised-at-rangers-fan-backlash-to-kieran-dowell-sub-as-boss-tells-fuming-punters-it-doesnt-help","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/331701\/","title":{"rendered":"Russell Martin ‘surprised’ at Rangers fan backlash to Kieran Dowell sub as boss tells fuming punters ‘it doesn’t help’"},"content":{"rendered":"

The former Southampton manager was taken aback to the reaction from the crowd to a second half substitution in the 1-1 draw with Dundee<\/p>\n

21:26, 09 Aug 2025Updated 21:38, 09 Aug 2025<\/p>\n

Kieran Dowell appeared as a second half substitute(Image: SNS Group)<\/p>\n

Russell Martin warned furious fans his Rangers<\/a> rebuild won\u2019t be a quick fix or without pain after his side shipped more Premiership points to struggling Dundee.<\/p>\n

Martin<\/a>\u2019s side – reduced to 10 men after Nasser Djiga<\/a>\u2019s 59th minute red card – were booed off after suffering another domestic shocker a week on from the opening day draw at Motherwell.<\/p>\n

Sub James Tavernier<\/a>\u2019s 92nd minute penalty rescued a little-deserved point after Ryan Astley\u2019s 51st minute header looked to have Dundee on course for a first win at Ibrox since 2001. But Martin\u2019s men ran the gauntlet of their own fans at full time ahead of Tuesday\u2019s Champions league qualifier away to Viktoria Plzen.<\/p>\n

The manager said he understood the fans\u2019 reaction at full time – but was less impressed with the punters jeering the 56th minute introduction of Kieran Dowell. Martin said: \u201cIt\u2019s a bit of pain and when you get through that pain, it’s so worth it. I don’t think I expected anything less coming here, it’s not going to be a quick fix.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis club has not had success for a long, long time. I’ve been asked about the supporters\u2019 reaction and I just don’t have a problem because I understand it.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are at a point now at this club where something needed to change. The ownership has changed, there’s a new coaching staff, there’s new players.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere’s hopefully a new way of behaving in the training ground – properly every single day, regarding standards and what’s expected at this football club.<\/p>\n

Kieran Dowell(Image: SNS Group)<\/p>\n

\u201cSo it’s not a quick fix and this is not me coming out and making excuses. I think we change the manager from year to year and nothing really changes.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo now it’s about really changing the culture and the feel of the club day in and day out.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat will end up in a good outcome. Good process, good people, will always end up in a good outcome. But maybe not so quickly as everyone wants.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut this year we’ll be ready to compete, we’ll be ready to win a lot. The culture of the group is changing. And we have to change it as quickly as we possibly can.\u201d<\/p>\n

Martin filleted his side after last week\u2019s draw at Fir Park. But he refused to stick the knife in for a second week. He said: \u201cWe need to tackle, try to penetrate a bit more, a few more runs, put it in the box more. We didn’t see that really until we went down to 10 men.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen there was a real intent to go forward, play forward, run forward, react properly to losing the ball.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think Nico Raskin tackled more when he came on for the last half hour than the whole team in the first 60 minutes. The lack of aggression comes from a bit of tension. It’s not a question about the lads’ mentality today.<\/p>\n

Russell Martin(Image: Pete Summers\/Shutterstock)<\/p>\n

\u201cThey only had a few set plays and we have to do much better. That’s about being really switched on, being really aggressive.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dowell\u2019s introduction for Mohamed Diomande in the 56th minute brought howls of derision from the home stands – aimed at the player and the manager.<\/p>\n

But Martin said: \u201cThat surprised me. I’m not on any social media or anything like that, so I don’t really know what the narrative is around Kieran. I don’t think it helps him, I don’t think it helps the rest of the guys. That’s how I feel about it really.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m disappointed for Kieran, because what we’ve seen at the training ground and I speak to everyone there, he’s really valued as a person and a character. And he’s played out of position for us for three games.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a really good footballer, so I don’t know what’s gone on before. We’re just judging everyone off a clean slate.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe tries, trains like an absolute beast, which I don’t think some people have come to this club and been bought for a lot of money and I don’t think they have done that.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe did a good job for us because we trust him to bring a certain level of intelligence out of position and he’ll want to help his team.<\/p>\n

\u201cEspecially with that reaction, that takes some character and personality. I hope Kieran gets a chance to show what he can do.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The former Southampton manager was taken aback to the reaction from the crowd to a second half substitution…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":331702,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[119053,34286,1949,43664,119054,1946,28104,1638,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-331701","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-dundee-fc","9":"tag-ibrox-stadium","10":"tag-james-tavernier","11":"tag-kieran-dowell","12":"tag-mohamed-diomande","13":"tag-rangers-fc","14":"tag-russell-martin","15":"tag-scottish-premiership","16":"tag-sports","17":"tag-uk","18":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115001351720740786","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/331701","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=331701"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/331701\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/331702"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=331701"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=331701"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=331701"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}