{"id":232842,"date":"2025-10-18T02:14:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-18T02:14:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/232842\/"},"modified":"2025-10-18T02:14:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-18T02:14:09","slug":"john-souttar-delivers-brutally-honest-rangers-truth-about-russell-martin-era-that-everyone-knows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/232842\/","title":{"rendered":"John Souttar delivers brutally honest Rangers truth about Russell Martin era that ‘everyone knows’"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Light Blues stopper – who only has eight months of his deal to run – admits the recent crisis has been his toughest period<\/p>\n

17:40, 17 Oct 2025Updated 19:14, 17 Oct 2025<\/p>\n

It’s safe to say this isn\u2019t what John Souttar<\/a> signed up for at Rangers.<\/p>\n

A solitary League Cup triumph in four years. Four different full-time gaffers in that time.<\/p>\n

And sustained periods of turbulence and turmoil at Ibrox.<\/p>\n

But the Scotland defender admits the club\u2019s recent crisis has been the toughest period he\u2019s EVER endured at Gers.<\/p>\n

Souttar only has eight months of his contract left but no-one is even speaking about that.<\/p>\n

For the club\u2019s owners and football department, talk of a potential new deal will have been put on hold until they get a new boss.<\/p>\n

If, as expected, Kevin Muscat<\/a> is appointed to replace Russell Martin<\/a>, Souttar will be on to manager number five.<\/p>\n

As a player, he accepts performances and results have been nowhere near good enough this term.<\/p>\n

And the 29-year-old confessed that the short-lived Martin era has been the most difficult yet in his time at the club.<\/p>\n

\"KevinKevin Muscat<\/p>\n

He’s at a loss to try and explain why it didn’t work under the previous manager but says players now have to focus on picking up much-needed victories.<\/p>\n

As he prepared for the must-win Premiership clash with Dundee United<\/a>, where Stevie Smith will take interim charge, Souttar said: \u201cIt\u2019s obviously a bit strange coming back (from international duty) to no manager.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis has probably been the toughest chapter in my career but we need to stand up and be counted now.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo one likes to be in the position we\u2019re in, no one likes to be involved in some of the performances we\u2019ve put in.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know it\u2019s not been good enough. It\u2019s important we represent the club at the weekend.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone knows the results haven\u2019t been good enough. At times I thought we showed a bit of promise.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought it was a unique style of play (under Martin) and one the boys enjoyed on the training pitch. But ultimately at the weekend we didn\u2019t get the results you need to be here.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to win games now, it\u2019s as simple as that. How we get them I don\u2019t know. But it\u2019s important we get back to winning.\u201d<\/p>\n

Martin might have bore the brunt of the criticism during a disastrous start to the domestic campaign.<\/p>\n

But Souttar and the rest of the players have also got it in the neck from a disgruntled Rangers<\/a>. support. He\u2019s big enough and experienced enough to take the flak.<\/p>\n

And even though Martin paid the ultimate price with his job<\/a> – he\u2019s adamant that players must shoulder a huge chunk of the blame for the manager\u2019s demise at Ibrox.<\/p>\n

Souttar said: \u201cEveryone is entitled to their opinion.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter what style of play you have – if you\u2019re not getting results people are going to be negative.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe players have got to take responsibility, we\u2019re the ones that take the pitch.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhatever manager is here, the lads have to take responsibility because there were games when we weren\u2019t good enough.<\/p>\n

\u201cAttack, defence, on the ball, off the ball. We\u2019ve got to take responsibility for that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"RussellRussell Martin and John Souttar<\/p>\n

Smith will be in the dug-out for the visit of Dundee United, while Rangers thrash out a deal for Muscat to become boss.<\/p>\n

The Aussie might not be in Glasgow for another month which isn\u2019t ideal given Souttar and Co have massive games in the Premiership, Europe – and a Premier Sports semi-final against Celtic at Hampden.<\/p>\n

Having gone through four managers in three years, the centre-back says it\u2019s vital the club get this next appointment right.<\/p>\n

And he\u2019s praying that whoever comes in can finally turn their fortunes around after years of limited success.<\/p>\n

But firstly, the priority is to ensure there are no more dropped points when Jim Goodwin\u2019s side come to Ibrox.<\/p>\n

Souttar said: \u201cThis is obviously a really important decision for the club and one they want to take their time on.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been here for four years and it\u2019s been difficult.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve had some good spells, but we\u2019ve had a lot of bad spells.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the summer when the new owners came in there was a lot of positivity.<\/p>\n

\u201cGood things take time but it\u2019s important we get there and get there quickly.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhoever comes in next, all the boys will be behind him because everyone is desperate for this club to do well.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd it\u2019s important we go out on Saturday and get a result.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Light Blues stopper – who only has eight months of his deal to run – admits the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":232843,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[87822,127107,129512,127105,82409,82412,129513,40481,403,99],"class_list":["post-232842","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-dundee-united-fc","tag-ibrox-stadium","tag-john-souttar","tag-kevin-muscat","tag-rangers-fc","tag-russell-martin","tag-scotland-football-team","tag-scottish-premiership","tag-soccer","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232842","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=232842"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232842\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/232843"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=232842"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=232842"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=232842"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}