Russell Martin’s Rangers dismissal was labelled ‘sad’ by his ex-Norwich City team mate Steven Naismith.
Martin departed after one win in seven games, and the Canaries’ former play-off winning captain needed a police escort to leave the stadium following Sunday’s 1-1 draw at Falkirk in his final match.
Former Ibrox midfielder and now Scotland assistant coach Naismith, who spent three seasons with Martin at Carrow Road, admitted Martin paid the price for poor results.
“From a personal point of view it’s sad, it’s disappointing,” he said. “I’ve been there, I understand it and it’s not nice. It’s not nice when it happens to any manager losing their job.
“I think the way football is, that’s the way it is. But it’s the results and that’s ultimately what football clubs are led by.
“Like I said, that’s the world we’re living in at the moment I think every manager in that position feels as if they need time.
“But results dictate everything. You need to make sure you get them quickly while you’re trying to make changes. You see it all over the world now, that is the norm. So yeah, it’s football.”
Martin, who departed Glasgow with long-time assistant Matt Gill, was the subject of growing fan protests in his short-lived tenure.
“Again, I think it has become normal. I don’t think anybody really likes seeing it, it’s uncomfortable to see,” said Naismith, quoted by PA. “But I do think everybody in football has an understanding of it. We’re fortunate in our country that we’ve got great passion, we’ve got a fighting spirit.
“I think there’s no clearer evidence than that than the national team getting to the Euros twice.
“You don’t want to take that away, but you have an understanding that it’s a job, it’s people, it’s individuals, that part of it.
“As I said, it’s uncomfortable to see, and you don’t want that as much as you want that passion.”
Leading pundit and another ex-Rangers stalwart, Ally McCoist, felt Martin and his staff ‘underestimated’ the size of the task.
Rangers only won five out of 17 games under the former Southampton and Swansea chief with their sole league victory coming courtesy of a Max Aarons’ stoppage-time winner at Livingston. A Champions League exit was followed by defeats in their opening two Europa League games against Genk and Sturm Graz.
“I think probably the new owners and certainly the old management staff probably underestimated the size of the job,” he said, speaking on Talksport. “There’s a lot of people maybe just look a little bit at Scottish football and say ‘Celtic and Rangers will win their games and that’s it finished because that’s what they do’. But football is a lot more difficult than that.
“I just think that aligned to really poor, really poor business in the transfer market in terms of recruitment.
“It’s easy to blame the manager and that’s where the buck stops, we all know that’s what happens, but the players have got to take some of the responsibility as well.”