FOR BETTER OR WORSE

Martin is a bright, well spoken and impressively intelligent man. He must know he's not particularly wanted here. But he has courage of his convictions to take it all on regardless and that must count for something when the dust settles

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THINGS may have to get worse before they get better.

Those were the words of warning issued to Rangers supporters on these pages a week or so ago, shortly after Andrew Cavenagh and his US consortium had completed a takeover of the club, in a multi-million-pound buyout which was first revealed by the Daily Record in February.

It was no more than an educated hunch based on experience and around the oddities of a perplexing recruitment process which, last night, crystallised in the appointment of Russell Martin as the new manager at Ibrox. Or head coach to give him his proper, new age, title.

Once again, we told you first, online at just after 6pm, that Martin's contract had been agreed and that his unveiling was imminent. And within the hour our exclusive was being confirmed by the club's PR department. But that's quite enough trumpet blowing for now.

Because at 11.15am yesterday morning the 39-year-old walked into a packed-out media room to begin the task of fronting up Cavenagh's new era from the sidelines.

And he did so against a backdrop of almost unanimous anger and negativity.

Things may have to get worse before they get better. That certainly seems to be the general consensus now that the likes of Steven Gerrard and Davide Ancelotti have fallen by the wayside and Martin has emerged as the last man standing.

It seems almost brutally unkind to hammer home the point on the day that Martin takes on such a treasured and cherished position. He will be rightly proud of this

moment and, quite clearly, he trusts in his own ability to prove himself as a worthy, successful candidate.

He has big ideas on how the game ought to be played and if he can pull it all off and transform a ramshackle Rangers side into a stylish, slick, winning outfit then he'll soon recover from the response to this awkward second coming.