Russell Martin can't escape Rangers sack unless he makes vital Mikey Moore call
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Credit: Manh Tung - Breaking Media, Imago
Oliver Walton
Thu 28 August 2025 19:21, UK
Russell Martin is almost certain to be relieved of his duties as Rangers boss if he does not give on-loan Tottenham winger Mikey Moore a chance to shine against Celtic in the club’s next outing.
Martin’s ability to manage Rangers is currently being doubted by many after a shoddy start to life as boss, with the club now out of the Champions League and sitting seventh in the Scottish Premiership.
His side suffered a damaging 6-0 loss to Club Brugge in the play-offs of Europe’s premier club competition on Wednesday (27 July), with many Rangers fans calling for the club to sack Martin after the game following a humiliating 9-1 aggregate defeat.
Former scout Mick Brown has told Football Insider that Martin is facing growing pressure on his position at Rangers after winning just three of his first 10 games in charge, which is the worst record of any manager in the club’s history in that time-frame.
He is clearly under huge pressure to turn things around as quickly as possible before it is too late, but Martin is set to be in charge against enemies Celtic on Sunday (31 August), and needs to turn to youngster Moore after barely utilising his talents during their woes up to now.
Credit: Imago
Moore has long been hailed as one of Tottenham’s top young talents, which is obviously no mean feat given that they are one of the biggest clubs in England and one of the richest clubs in world football.
He signed a new, long term contract with the North London outfit prior to joining Rangers, and so they clearly have high hopes for him in the future, but will be disappointed with how his loan spell at Ibrox is panning out so far.
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The 18-year-old winger was handed his debut against Alloa in the League Cup on 16 August, and he impressed against lower-league opponents as he grabbed an assist and was a constant threat from the left-wing.
Since then, however, he has not started any of the next three games and has only come on off the bench twice as Martin chose not to send him on with the tie already over in the second-leg against Brugge.
He made a positive impact against St Mirren on Sunday (24 August), as the Gers fought back from a goal down to draw with him on the pitch in the second-half, and, given that Martin looks to be in the last chance saloon with his job, starting the youngster against Celtic seems like a no-brainer.
Credit: Imago
Djeidi Gassama has impressed this season and is near-guaranteed to be in the starting eleven, but fellow summer signing Oliver Antman is yet to score for the club in six appearances and has largely failed to shine from the right-wing up to now.
Replacing him with a player of Moore’s lofty potential in such a big game could be a real masterstroke by the under-fire boss, especially since what he is already trying is clearly not working and so he effectively needs to take a gamble to keep his job.
Martin has overseen a terrible start to the new season, yet is still being entrusted to lead Rangers forward after he insisted after Wednesday’s game that he still retains the owners’ backing, saying: “Patrick [Stewart] and Kevin [Thelwell], I’ve had a chat with them already, they’re amazingly supportive.
They knew this would take time, they understand the club’s position.”
The club’s position is a strong one, especially within Scotland, while they have spent big this summer to compete in Europe, and so it is pretty unclear what he is referring to with such a comment.
Even though Brugge are regulars in Europe and were always going to pose a challenge, such a big defeat over two legs has resulted in huge embarrassment and humiliation for the Gers, and the performances that went with the defeats were also a huge issue.
Games managedWinsDrawsLossesPoints-per-game103431.3Martin’s Rangers managerial record
It’s not as if his side have been playing well, as they have been well-beaten in all three of their defeats this season, with Viktoria Plzen having an xG of 3.22 and a whopping 27 shots [Fotmob] in their 2-1 win over the Ibrox outfit on 12 August.
He is truly lucky to be continually backed by the 49ers Enterprises, but that could all change with another bad loss this weekend against Celtic, of all teams, and so he needs to roll the dice and at least give Moore a chance to prove himself to him before he is given his marching orders.