'My kids couldn’t come to the game because of the level of abuse' Russell Martin breaks silence on toxic Rangers spell

Russell Martin's final act as Rangers manager saw him leave the Falkirk Stadium with a police escort to keep him away from furious fans of the Ibrox club.

The former Scotland defender was sacked shortly after that 1-1 draw, with that abiding image providing a snapshot of how toxic the atmosphere became around Martin towards the end of his 123-day spell in charge.

Having signed a three-year contract last summer, the ex-Southampton boss was relieved of his duties on October 5 after winning just five of his 17 games in charge, with Rangers eighth in the Scottish Premiership.

'I don't regret anything' Russell Martin opens up on Rangers spell

Martin's first major setback was a 9-1 aggregate defeat by Belgian side Club Brugge in the Champions League play-offs last August, and he ultimately never recovered.

Fan protests and chants continued to grow amid a poor run of form and tensions reached boiling point after that draw at Falkirk, when supporters tried to stop Rangers' team bus leaving the ground and Martin had to be escorted away by police in a separate car.

Five months on, the 40-year-old has now opened up on his Ibrox spell during an appearance on BBC Radio 5 Live's The Monday Night Club.

Martin said: “I don’t regret anything, I’ve learnt a lot and I’ll definitely be better for it. I love Glasgow as a city, I loved living there, the people face-to-face were fantastic and I think it was character-building.

"It was really difficult for the people around me - family, friends, when my kids came up they couldn’t come to the game because of the level of abuse I was receiving at that point, and it was quite early on.

"But when you look back at it, you learn from everything, so there is stuff you would do differently, stuff you would insist on doing the same and maybe being even stronger with.

"There was so much change. I walked into the club at a time with new owners who had literally been there two weeks when I came in, a new director of football, chief executive, new head of performance, new head coach, 14 new players, and I tried to stress that it would take some time, but that’s my fault because I was in a place where historically and traditionally you don’t have time, so I don’t feel bitter about it at all."

It was a summer of upheaval on and off the pitch at Ibrox, as a consortium led by Andrew Cavanagh and 49ers Enterprises completed their takeover of the club in May, before Martin was appointed the following month.

He added: “I’d have loved the time to build something and I felt that was what the club needed, but the owners decided differently.

"Frustration is the biggest thing, there were so many small things we could have done a little bit better. I should have been a bit more rigid with formation and certain principles, and I sort of tried to bend and flex to fit the newness of the group.

"We had so many young players we bought into the club. It’s not excuses, we should have done a better job than we did and we should have won more games, but we felt like we were going to get somewhere with it.

"There’s loads of frustration for me as a manager, a coach, and a leader, but ultimately as a manager it’s always your fault, so it’s my fault I didn’t do well enough and you learn for it, and I’ll be better for it for sure.”

Martin led Southampton to promotion from the Championship in May 2024 via the play-offs, but his possession-based style of football proved less successful in the Premier League and he was sacked seven months later with Saints bottom of the table.

The former Swansea City and MK Dons boss revealed he has been approached for managers' jobs in the past few months, but said: “I’ve turned a few things down since I left Rangers, partly because football’s so quick to move on, so your stock can go from so high to so low so quickly.

"I’m pretty much a 'yes' or a 'no' straight away for a club owner or director of football because of the way I want the team to play.

"Some will go, 'It doesn’t fit us, we don’t want that', and some you need to check if they really want this, because it might not be instant - but if you give us a little bit of time the evidence suggests we’ll do OK."