Martin looked every bit as bedraggled & confused as his players..His scathing assessment of performance also provided more questions than answers

New boss needs time but doubts already emerging about methods

- KEITH JACKSON

TIME and patience. There's no question that's what Russell Martin needs most of all as he settles into his role of reinventing Rangers.

And those of us who have warned as much repeatedly over the last couple of months since his appointment could stand accused of hypocrisy for questioning Martin's methods and beliefs just three games into this, his first season at the helm.

And yet here we are, regardless.

Because, while time and patience will undoubtedly be required if Martin is to take the Ibrox club on this ideological journey, the most fundamental question is, are they really sure they want to go there?

Because sometimes reaching the final destination frankly isn't worth all of the effort it entails.

And the early indicators suggest Martin's promised land might be quite some distance away from what it was made to look like in the brochure.

Of course, it's way too soon to reach any firm or damning conclusions but, it must be said, the early evidence is inconclusive at best.

When Rangers somehow made it through two legs of a Champions League pummelling from Panathinaikos an assortment of fan boys and happy clappers rushed to the defence of the manager while ignoring what they had just witnessed with their own eyes.

The truth is that Martin's side was an incomprehensible mess in both of those games against the Greeks.

And exactly how these players managed to get through the double header clutching onto a 3-1 aggregate victory almost defied any sort of sound logic.

Yes, granted the end result is ultimately all that really matters and Martin certainly earned himself a bit of badly needed breathing space by leading his team into the next round, where they will face Czech opposition in Viktoria Plzen.