logo
Scathing Rangers claim I heard about Russell Martin is another language but I don't buy the speculation

Scathing Rangers claim I heard about Russell Martin is another language but I don't buy the speculation

Daily Record5 hours ago

Russell Martin will need the finely-tuned attributes of Harry Houdini when he starts work on Monday.
The escapologist's speciality was being suspended upside down in a tank of water while handcuffed and wearing a straitjacket.
He had three minutes to hold his breath and extricate himself from his constrictions. Or else.
It's not a life-or-death scenario for the new head coach at Ibrox, despite what the more excitable might claim.
But endangerments are building up.
There's Panathinaikos in the Champions League qualifier next month – defeat over two legs looks unthinkable.
There's a row over the circumstances that saw John Souttar put country before club, and delayed an operation, to be available for Scotland's recent two friendlies.
Meanwhile, the club's activity in the transfer market has had the same grip on fans' imagination as FIFA's Club World Cup.
Limited enthusiasm has been shown by a support who were expecting big bucks to be thrown at new players by Rangers' new owners, 49ers Enterprises.
A civil ceremony to formalise the arranged marriage between the club and their backers will take place at an EGM at Ibrox on Monday.
Shareholders will meet to approve £20m of fresh investment. Symbolically, it is a day when governance of the club is taken out of the hands of those who, historically, were brought up to support Rangers.
Money knows no allegiance, however, and years of minimal success necessitates an influx of cash from anywhere, and San Francisco is as good a place as any.
Martin comes into this potentially febrile environment with his eyes wide open and with a need to close his ears to the outside noise.
I came back from the Highlands last Monday having watched two of my grandsons perform at Lochaber Provincial Mod.
Then I turned on the radio and wondered if I was still dealing with the linguistic problem of not understanding a word.
A Rangers supporter denounced Martin as a 'second-rate manager' and said Rangers would be lucky to finish in the Premiership's top six.
It was a cultural rather than language barrier confronting me. My grandkids aren't Gaelic speakers but had learned their competition piece phonetically.
The radio caller, on the other hand, was word perfect when it came to unfounded speculation. Martin has enough to worry about without fretting over guesswork. He faces a must-win match at Ibrox against Panathinaikos next month in his first competitive match.
He'll need to wriggle out of that like Houdini would – because a lot of the players who had previously excelled on European nights at Ibrox are no longer there.
That situation might worsen if Cyriel Dessers is sold from beneath him.
Martin must focus on matters he can control and ignore irrelevant details like Gers never beating Panathinaikos in four previous meetings.
The past has no relevance to the present or the future, which Russell must shape in a positive way. Monday begins a new era at Ibrox and the weight of history is on Martin's shoulders.
Houdini was an illusionist too but the head coach will be under no illusions about his job. The difference between success and failure will be visible to all from every angle.

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Cult of celebrity feels like a fundamental tension at the heart of the game
Cult of celebrity feels like a fundamental tension at the heart of the game

The Guardian

time33 minutes ago

  • The Guardian

Cult of celebrity feels like a fundamental tension at the heart of the game

It is in the details that the truest picture emerges. Quite aside from the endless politicking, the forever-war with Uefa, the consorting with autocrats and the intriguing broadcast rights and partnership deals, there has been, not a new, but growing sense during the Club World Cup that Fifa doesn't really get football. There is something cargo-cultish about it, creating outcomes without engaging in processes. Perhaps that is inevitable with Gianni Infantino's style of leadership; like all populists, he is big on vision and short on practical reality. It was there in the expansion of the World Cup to 48 teams. OK: how will the tournament be organised? Sixteen groups of three. Won't that mean either lots of potential dead rubbers (one team from each group goes through) or opportunities for collusion (two go through)? Oh, actually, the four-team groups at the 2022 have worked so well, we'll go with 12 groups of four. Sure, but then you have eight best third-place teams going through which: a) diminishes jeopardy; and b) undermines sporting integrity by giving an advantage to teams in later groups because they have a clearer idea of what is needed to progress, again offering opportunities for collusion. No response, because all that matters is a bigger tournament equals more votes for the president and (in the short term) more revenue. One of the oddest aspects of the Club World Cup has been the way players are greeted on to the pitch individually, like swimmers before an Olympic final. At Ulsan HD v Mamelodi Sundowns, they may as well have gone on and introduced the crowd as well. Who needs this? Who wants this? Why does the first player out have to hang around for several minutes waiting for the 22nd player? For well over a century the two teams have walked out side by side. This has always been part of the gladiatorial ritual of football. This is the contest: one team against another. But as Fifa has sought desperately to improve attendances and stimulate interest, its focus has become more and more on the individual. That is why there was all that talk, much of it emanating from Infantino, about Cristiano Ronaldo potentially securing a short-term deal with a qualifier, and why qualifying was gerrymandered to ensure the presence of Lionel Messi's Inter Miami. But there is a potentially self-defeating short-termism to this. While the desire to see Messi is entirely understandable, especially as he enters the late autumn of his career, Inter Miami are sixth in MLS's Western Conference, their form having disintegrated since the end of March. From an MLS point of view, the ideal scenario would have been for one of their sides to beat a storied opponent, perhaps push on to the quarter-finals, generating interest in North America's domestic league. The best way of doing that would have been to have the best-possible MLS representation, but Inter Miami are in no sense one of the best three sides. As it is, none of the MLS sides won their opening game, although Porto's dismal form and Messi's dead-ball ability may get Inter Miami through anyway. It might also be pointed out that Auckland City are not the best side in New Zealand, nor are Red Bull Salzburg one of the best 12 sides in Europe, but the consequences are greater for the host nation, particularly when there is apparently so much potential for growth. The celebritisation of football is not new, but it is intensifying. When Paul Pogba returned to Manchester United in 2016 and, rather than speaking of the Premier League or becoming a European champion, said he dreamed of winning the Ballon d'Or, it felt shocking, a player elevating his own interests and a silly bauble above the glory of team success. But that has become normal. Improving his Ballon d'Or chances is one of the reasons Neymar left Barcelona for Paris Saint-Germain; even Trent Alexander-Arnold mentioned the Ballon d'Or as a motivation for joining Real Madrid (good luck with that from right-back). Sign up to Football Daily Kick off your evenings with the Guardian's take on the world of football after newsletter promotion The marketing of football is almost all focused on individuals. That's been particularly so at the Club World Cup, but it is true of almost every competition. Even the way lineups are introduced on Sky's Premier League coverage, with the players performing a fake celebration, seems designed to introduce them as characters. Yet there is a tension there. While individual players are celebrated, the increasing use of data means image and self-projection may never have mattered less. The stats will find the talent, even if the talent has no gift for self-promotion. At the same time, the best teams have never been so cohesive, so integrated. PSG provide a useful case study. For years they signed stars with seemingly little thought to how they might play together. Although their immense resources won them the French league, they habitually choked in Europe. Then there was a change of approach, the money was spent not on Neymar and Messi but on players on the way up who still had a hunger for success and who could play together. The result was the Champions League and, despite their defeat by Botafogo, possibly the inaugural world title in the expanded format. If it was conceived as a two-stage strategy – build the brand through celebrity, then win the actual competitions – it has worked to perfection; in reality, it's probably trial and error that has brought them to this point. At Real Madrid, meanwhile, Florentino Pérez still seems locked in his galáctico vision of football, insisting on adding Kylian Mbappé to a squad that already contained Vinícius Júnior and Rodrygo, resulting in imbalance and an expensive downturn in form. This goes deeper than transfer policies, though. This feels like a fundamental tension at the heart of the game. What, after all, is success in modern football? Manchester City for the past decade have been a much better football team than PSG, and yet they have nothing like the brand awareness. Is success winning trophies, or making money? Is it winning trophies or becoming more famous? Is it winning trophies or marketing the individual? The individual walk-ons only blur the lines further, suggest organisers who struggle with the concept that football, perhaps more than any other sport, is a game of the team.

Nicolas Kuhn watches dithering RB Leipzig go tame as transfer truth comes to boil over Celtic star
Nicolas Kuhn watches dithering RB Leipzig go tame as transfer truth comes to boil over Celtic star

Daily Record

time39 minutes ago

  • Daily Record

Nicolas Kuhn watches dithering RB Leipzig go tame as transfer truth comes to boil over Celtic star

The former Germany youth international is in demand this summer RB Leipzig's pursuit of Celtic star Nicolas Kuhn is set to be turned down a notch - according to a report. Despite dropping off in the second half of last season, the German winger finished the campaign with an impressive 21 goals and 15 assists in 51 matches in all competitions. ‌ Last week, it was reported that the former Bayern Munich kid is a summer target for Bundesliga side Leipzig, who missed out on European football altogether next season with a disappointing seventh place finish in Germany's top tier. ‌ Kuhn has also been touted for a big money switch to Newcastle but Hoops hero and Record Sport columnist Chris Sutton has warned that the wide man is not ready for the step-up and needs another year until his belt at Parkhead first. However, a move from Leipzig for Kuhn - or any player for that matter - will reportedly be on hold until a decision on just who will be in the dugout at the Red Bull Arena next season is made. Die Roten Bullen have been without a permanent boss since March 30 when Marco Rose got the boot after a very underwhelming showing on home soil and in Europe. Former Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain number two Zsolt Low was appointed as interim manager for the remainder of the campaign but is not expected to be in contention to land the job on a permanent basis. And while Ole Werner - who stepped down from Werder Bremen last month after leading them to a eight place finish in the Bundesliga - is the favourite to replace Low, German outlet Merkur state that getting the managerial situation sorted will take preference over improving the squad. Leipzig have already snapped up the signing of talented Dutch youngster OH Leuven ahead of the new season but that deal was completed back in April. ‌ The report also states that a potential swoop for Valencia's Spain U21 star Cristhian Mosquera has also cooled until a new man in the hot seat is in place. They claim that Mosquera has gone as far as giving Leizpig a verbal agreement that he wants to move to Germany but won't officially put pen to paper until he knows just who he will be playing under. ‌ You can get all the news you need on our dedicated Rangers and Celtic pages, and sign up to our newsletters to make sure you never miss a beat throughout the season. We're also WhatsApp where we bring all the latest breaking news and transfer gossip directly to you phone. Join our Rangers community here and our Celtic community here.

Jobe Bellingham scores on his full Borussia Dortmund debut as Bundesliga side claim 4-3 win over Mamelodi Sundowns in Club World Cup
Jobe Bellingham scores on his full Borussia Dortmund debut as Bundesliga side claim 4-3 win over Mamelodi Sundowns in Club World Cup

Daily Mail​

timean hour ago

  • Daily Mail​

Jobe Bellingham scores on his full Borussia Dortmund debut as Bundesliga side claim 4-3 win over Mamelodi Sundowns in Club World Cup

Jobe Bellingham scored his first goal for Borussia Dortmund during their Club World Cup clash with Mamelodi Sundowns. The 19-year-old followed in the footsteps of his older brother Jude by joining the Bundesliga giants in a £32million move from Sunderland earlier this month. He made his debut off the bench in the Club World Cup opener against Fluminense on Tuesday night, but was handed a starting role against Sundowns - and showed promising signs that he's ready to carve out his own path in black and yellow. With Dortmund 2-1 up against the South African champions, Bellingham extended their lead just before half-time, firing a half-volley into the bottom corner from inside the box. Lucas Ribeiro had burst through a static Dortmund defence, picking up the ball on the halfway line and gliding past two opponents to score a shock opener after 11 minutes. But the lead last only five minutes before a calamitous error from Sundowns goalkeeper Ronwen Williams, who played a short pass to Nmecha who had an easy tap-in for the equaliser. Dortmund went ahead after a slick set of one-two passes between Julian Brandt and Guirassy who powered home with his head before Bellingham's strike. Rayners struck the woodwork for Sundowns 10 minutes into the second half but on the hour mark Daniel Svensson's cross from the left took a wicked deflection off Sundowns' fullback Khuliso Mudau as Dortmund extended their lead. Two minutes later, the South African side pulled one back as Teboho Mokoena's free kick was floated to Rayners, who struck the foot of the post but the rebound bounced back onto his head and he did not waste the second opportunity. Mothiba struck in the 90th minute as Sundowns stole away possession and the substitute scored from close range but they could not find an equaliser. Bellingham joined following two impressive seasons at Sunderland, who he helped earn promotion back to the Premier League last month. He played 43 matches in all competitions for the Black Cats last season and was named as the Championship Young Player of the Season.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store