When Russell Martin was appointed in June, we were as puzzled as most other Rangers fans. His record was less than impressive and, although he’d secured promotion for his Southampton team, there were too many red flags to be confident he’d deliver success at our club. However, others supposedly on the short leet were equally unremarkable with only the son of Carlo Ancelotti providing slight interest due his surname more than anything tangible. Was the preferred candidate of many fans Steven Gerrard ever seriously considered?

No matter, we needed to have some faith in the process, Martin secured the role and the words of our (equally new and doubted) Sporting Director provided some reassurance for those comfortable with (or at least resigned to) giving the new Head Coach some time to prove his footballing philosophy. In case you have forgotten, these are the words of Kevin Thelwell almost exactly four months ago:

“Martin’s teams play dominant football, they control the ball, dictate the tempo and impose themselves physically. They press aggressively and work relentlessly off the ball. These are all characteristics that we believe are required to be successful at home, away, and abroad.”

That sounded ideal but, of course, rarely in recent times at Rangers, do words crystallise into action. We’ve had many a manager, player and director promise us improvement and, aside from one or two successful seasons over the last ten years in the top league, our domestic performances and return have largely been pitiful. With that in mind, our fans – myself included – can often expect too much so it’s important not to look at Martin’s early contribution in isolation.

Our post-2012 issues are an obvious reference when it comes to evaluating our position but what happened then was almost 16 years ago and it has been over ten years since Dave King et al wrestled control of the club back from those whom would wish it ill. Even now, the club may not be in a prime financial state but the money we’ve spent in recent years, supplied by the incredible financial loyalty of supporters, should have seen a much greater return. We cannot use the events of 2012 to excuse ongoing performance now.

Quite simply the custodianship throughout this period has been woeful and it’s easy to pinpoint key mistakes. We’ve chopped and changed models; we’ve failed to build on successful managers then went all in with appalling recruitment on unproven ones and we’ve arguably put the cart before the horse when it comes to prioritising CapEx projects like Edmiston House and the Copland Cantilever work ahead of delivering consistent success on the park.

As such, when rumours of ownership change started to swirl late last year, many supporters were keen to hear more and as these rumours precipitated into more concrete information, excitement started to build. After all, the 49ers group has the portfolio to not only improve our own position but, importantly, to compete again with Celtic. Add in the initial success at Leeds and the ambitions held for the English club, then it’s no wonder some fans were jubilant once the takeover went ahead in the close season. Unfortunately, almost everything that has happened since then has eroded that elation and it’s startling just how quickly we’ve gone from delight to dread.

It’s on the park where you’ll find the more obvious issues yet we started in fairly acceptable fashion; progressing past Panathinaikos in a tricky CL qualifier and making a number of squad changes that would deliver the style Thelwell and Martin promised. Indeed, although we started our league campaign with a disappointing draw away to Motherwell, the Head Coach’s reaction to that performance drew the backing of many supporters as he called out player ego and mentality issues. Since then, not only has Martin failed to address these issues – despite dropping Belgian international midfielder Nico Raskin – our performances on the park have failed to offer any sort of improvement.

In that sense, it’s very easy (and becoming increasingly futile) to point out our failings and they read like a Trainspotting 3 movie poster. We do not start games well and often have to make subs at half-time. We play at walking pace. We play with our back towards goal. We cannot control the ball. Our set-pieces lack imagination. We leave wide open spaces defensively. We don’t track runners. We have no leaders. Communication is non-existent. Our shooting is appalling. We appear physically weak and slow. Our positioning lacks insight and structure. We don’t play for each other. We refuse to learn from our mistakes. We appear lazy and disinterested. It’s certainly sh!te being a Rangers fan to paraphrase Renton.

At this point, it’s only fair to highlight this was the case under previous managers. From the latter days of Gerrard and Gio, to Beale and Clement, their teams often struggled in similar ways and even Barry Ferguson couldn’t instil any real belief into a squad of players that usually buckle at the first sign of pressure.

Consequently, when Martin was given the job and spoke of ‘knowing what the club demands’ and his team would ‘play with bravery, to take the ball, to be aggressive, and to stand up in the big moments’, it wasn’t unreasonable to expect the practical failings above to change quickly. Add in our wholesale transfer business, then surely the weak mentality would also be solved?

We would like to point outwee see ourselves as (hopefully) a wee bit more patient than the average bear. We're also uncomfortable with some of the songs aimed at Martin and understand you can’t turnaround a Titanic-sized ship like Rangers on a sixpence. But, it’s certainly the case that, rather than solve our problems, Martin is making things worse and his ship is certainly sinking as well. We also have to note that when unveiled as the new Head Coach, Martin said he’d do his ‘very best to earn the respect of the Rangers fans with the clear goal of winning matches and trophies, and give Rangers fans a team that they can be proud of.’

To that end, Martin is clearly failing and failing incredibly badly. His relationship with fans is awful and he seems to revel in goading supporters instead of recognising their points and his own flaws. Given we’ve only won five out of 16 games, then we’re neither proud of his team and we certainly won’t be winning any trophies on our current downward trajectory. Unfortunately, there’s a bigger problem as Martin’s failure is merely a symptom of a more worrying disease.

When Andrew Cavenagh and 49ers Enterprises led their consortium into Ibrox off the back of a three-month business review, supporters expected the kind of positive revolution not seen since the 1980s. Not only would substantial investment be forthcoming but improvement would be delivered right through the club from people experienced in football and more broadly through sports and business. Their words were clear:

Fraser Thornton promised, “This new ownership phase represents a significant step forward for Rangers FC. The incoming shareholders bring not only funding but also deep expertise in strategic planning, infrastructure development, and sporting excellence.”

Patrick Stewart offered, “Our focus now is on the hard work ahead, preparing thoroughly for the new season, appointing the right men’s head coach, and ensuring we have the structures in place to support success on the pitch.”

Andrew Cavenagh said," This club’s history and traditions speak for themselves, but history doesn’t win matches. We know that the true way to honour the club’s heritage will be to drive performance. Our focus is simple: elevate performance, deliver results, and bring Rangers back to where it belongs - at the top."

Now, such institutional change doesn’t happen overnight. It takes time, it takes money and it takes a belief that has to stay firm even during difficult moments. Conversely, as fans we can also be impatient, unrealistic and even unfair in our observations at times. But when those in charge talk about ‘understanding demands’ then they can’t complain when the pressure of failing to deliver becomes too much.

And fail to deliver all the above have. The players, the Head Coach, the Board and the ownership are all being hoist by their own petard. Martin clearly can’t coach nor accept criticism, Stewart didn’t appoint the correct coach, Thelwell has failed to implement the promised style and the Board’s focus certainly isn’t driving Rangers to the top.

At this moment in time, Rangers hasn’t changed in the last six months. It’s a basket-case of constituent parts that resembles a poorly run small business. From weak players too anxious to make a simple pass, to a managerial hypocrite with a bigger ego than the players he criticises, to an absent chairman that presses fan flesh during his visits before ignoring their justifiable ire on his private jet back to the safety of the USA, the club remains a badly run shambles. Loyal business partners such as our podcast sponsor raise issues and are shut down whilst travelling fans clash with board members in foreign hotels. Meanwhile, we address fan protests by appointing the inexperienced son of our Sporting Director as our new Head Scout or the pals existing staff new from their time at similarly under-performing clubs such as Everton and Man Utd. It’s all very condescending and far from impressive. Instead, it seems lazy, cheap and lacking imagination.

Taking into account all the above the club doesn’t have its problems to seek and rather than noting clear incremental improvement since the ownership and management team changed, we seem to be going backwards. Meanwhile, other allegedly smaller clubs match their confident words with sensible pragmatism and appear to have a better understanding of what’s required to achieve results in Scotland. Are we really that arrogant to dismiss the ambition of clubs like Hearts?

In conclusion, we have to hope these initial failures are not based on wilful malfeasance taking advantage of the support’s loyalty but honest missteps in a decision-making process than can be subjective and difficult at the best of times. Either way, the last six months (let’s not pretend the 49ers haven’t been indirectly involved for at least that long) have been a failure and the buck doesn’t stop with Russell Martin. He may well be the scapegoat for others but if the ownership wishes to avoid further protest (and even worse – longer term apathy) then a considered appraisal of what has gone wrong so far, why it’s went wrong and who is really to blame must be found. If not the last 16 years might seem like the glory days rather than any catalyst for genuine change.