Credit: Imago, Manh Tung – Breaking Media
Wed 27 August 2025 21:49, UK
Russell Martin could be relieved of his duties as Rangers manager after his side’s humiliating 6-0 defeat to Club Brugge on Wednesday night.
Rangers lost 9-1 on aggregate against Club Brugge, who tore Martin’s men to shreds at the Jan Breydel Stadium to knock them out of the Champions League.
Nicolo Tresoli’s early goal was followed up in the eighth minute by Max Aarons being shown a straight red card for denying a clear goalscoring opportunity.
Rangers then went into the break five goals down as Brugge, who added one more in the second half, ran riot, adding to what has already been a nightmare start at Ibrox for Martin.
Credit: Imago‘Impossible for Russell Martin to survive Rangers sack’
Martin has already broken unwanted records as Rangers manager – and now he looks like he could win the title of the shortest permanent reign in charge of the Ibrox giants.
Since being officially announced as the Gers’ manager on 5 June, Martin has failed to beat any Scottish team above League One, won just three out of 10 games and failed to reach the league phase of the Champions League in embarrassing fashion.
Rangers have conceded 17 goals in Martin’s first 10 gamesThey’ve only won games against Panathinaikos, Viktoria Plzen and Alloa AthleticNext up is an Old Firm derby against Celtic on Sunday
Eleven weeks and six days have passed since he was hired and Rangers lost 6-0 in Brugge – and it now looks like it could be all over.
According to Scottish journalist Graham Spiers on X, Martin’s position is now untenable.
“It is impossible to see Russell Martin surviving this,” he said.
“A Rangers manager, who was already in the dock, cannot survive this.”
credit: ImagoWho currently holds record as shortest reign as Rangers manager?
Until their financial meltdown in 2012, Rangers had been rather good at seeing their managers have long spells in charge at Ibrox.
From Bill Struth’s 34-year reign that oversaw 18 league titles, to Walter Smith’s two spells in charge that totalled 11 years, Ibrox has had some real greats in the dug-out.
And then there’s the opposite end of the spectrum.
We won’t talk about the caretakers and the interims, but in terms of permanent managers, none have had a shorter time in charge of Rangers than Pedro Caixinha.
NameDays in chargeRussell Martin*83Pedro Caixinha227Paul Le Guen240Michael Beale307Giovanni van Bronckhorst1 year, 3 daysShortest stints as permanent Rangers manager (* = still in charge)
The Portuguese manager oversaw 26 games, losing seven times across 227 days.
If Rangers sack Martin on the day of the defeat in Brugge, he’d have been in charge for just 83.
Andrew Cavenagh and 49ers Enterprises have put a lot of money into buying the Light Blues this year and their first managerial appointment, signed off by Kevin Thelwell, has so far been a huge failure.
They have two options now – stick or twist.
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