Russell needs to draw a line under the early season chaos & hit the reset button

There can be no more distractions for Gers - or excuses

- BARRY FERGUSON

THERE'S no point sugarcoating it and nothing to be gained by pretending Rangers and Russell Martin have got the season off to a positive start.

And I'm perfectly sure no one inside Ibrox would even attempt to suggest they have been happy with the first few weeks of the campaign.

It's been difficult for the new manager and, at times, it has looked a bit frenzied. But it’s also worth remembering it was always likely to be a turbulent transitional period.

Not only has Russell been attempting to get his team to play a completely different style of football and lay down a new structure on the field.

In the background, he’s also been trying to overhaul an entire squad in one transfer window with a revolving door at Auchenhowie.

When you think about it, with all that has been going on, it was never likely to be as smooth as the club's supporters were hoping for.

There were always going to be bumps along the way.

That all said, when the season restarts on Saturday at three o'clock, there can be no more distractions.

And no more excuses.

The hard yards have been done over the course of the summer. Russell said himself he was desperate for the summer market to shut down because of all the noise it had been creating

Who's staying? Who's going? What's this team going to look like if they allow Cyriel Dessers and Hamza Igamane to move on? How do they cope with losing two strikers in one go?

Well, now we have answers to those questions. The dust has settled and Russell will have been able to take some time during the international break to get his head clear.

I know from personal experience that this job dominates your every waking moment. It’s 100 miles an hour, all day every day.

So Scotland's World Cup openers will have given everyone a bit of a pause and a chance to assess the situation.