{"id":488684,"date":"2025-10-10T15:43:13","date_gmt":"2025-10-10T15:43:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/488684\/"},"modified":"2025-10-10T15:43:13","modified_gmt":"2025-10-10T15:43:13","slug":"russell-martin-will-bounce-back-from-rangers-failure-with-flying-colours-as-kyle-lafferty-insists-pal-was-let-down","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/488684\/","title":{"rendered":"Russell Martin will bounce back from Rangers failure with flying colours as Kyle Lafferty insists pal was let down"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lafferty is in no doubt his old Norwich teammate can still have a top career in management\"RussellRussell Martin was axed by Rangers<\/p>\n

Kyle Lafferty is convinced that Russell Martin<\/a> WILL go on to become a top boss – despite his ropey Rangers reign.<\/p>\n

But the Northern Irishman says his pal was let down by players who couldn\u2019t handle the pressure at Ibrox.<\/p>\n

Lafferty<\/a> was thrilled when his old Norwich team-mate got the gig to replace Philippe Clement <\/a>at his boyhood club.<\/p>\n

He accepts that Martin\u2019s results as Rangers<\/a> manager were nowhere near good enough – but is adamant he\u2019ll be a successful coach elsewhere.<\/p>\n

Lafferty believes some of Martin\u2019s players FROZE in Glasgow. But he cited former Ibrox flop Umar Sadiq as an example of good players not being able to cut it at the Old Firm.<\/p>\n

Lafferty told Record Sport<\/strong>: \u201cWhen he got the Rangers job, I was delighted for Russell. It got me excited.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I think for some of the players he\u2019s signed, they maybe under-estimated how big Rangers is and how tough Scottish football is.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of them were brilliant at previous clubs. But everyone knows at the Old Firm, before you\u2019ve kicked a ball expectations are massive.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo if you don\u2019t get off to a good start, it becomes really hard. I bet if some of these players – who haven\u2019t done it at Rangers – move on in the summer, they\u2019ll go to other clubs and hit the ground running.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt happens so many times. The one that stands out for me in my time at the club is Sadiq.<\/p>\n

Rangers flop Umar Sadiq(Image: SNS Group)<\/p>\n

\u201cHe didn\u2019t do it at Rangers. But his transfer fees in the last couple of years are about \u00a350 million.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not just about ability at Rangers. You need to be made of stone to take all the abuse.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve come to a big club like Rangers and some of them have frozen under the expectation.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith the manager under the spotlight, any bad touch or misplaced pass, you\u2019ll get pulled up on.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a poisonous place in the last few weeks. Results haven\u2019t been good enough but I do feel bad for Russ.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a human being at the end of the day. He came in to do a job and it hasn\u2019t worked out.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fans pay their money so they are entitled to their opinion. But it\u2019s been tough to watch, especially when it\u2019s your mate.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was dying for him to do well.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was no going back because the fans had made their mind up.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of them didn\u2019t want him in the first place so it was tough from day one.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m pretty sure he\u2019ll get a job elsewhere and he\u2019ll thrive in it. People will realise he\u2019s a good manager.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was just a case of maybe being in the wrong place at the wrong time.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lafferty is in no doubt his old Norwich teammate can still have a top career in managementRussell Martin…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":488685,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4100],"tags":[12901,162,94,161409,79132,40766,1946,28104,1638,79,16,161410,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-488684","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-english-football-league","9":"tag-english-premier-league","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-kyle-lafferty","12":"tag-norwich-city-fc","13":"tag-philippe-clement","14":"tag-rangers-fc","15":"tag-russell-martin","16":"tag-scottish-premiership","17":"tag-sports","18":"tag-uk","19":"tag-umar-sadiq","20":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115350642341690484","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/488684","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=488684"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/488684\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/488685"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=488684"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=488684"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=488684"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}