Russell Martin on intense Rangers scrutiny: In a perverse way, I’ve enjoyed it

Russell Martin insists he has enjoyed the intense scrutiny to his tenure at Rangers “in a perverse way”.

The former Southampton boss was not a universally popular summer appointment and so far sceptics have been proven correct.

Disgruntled Gers fans protested against Martin and chief executive Patrick Stewart outside and inside Ibrox on Saturday when the Light Blues recorded their first win in six games with a 2-0 Premier Sports Cup victory over Hibernian.

Rangers are second bottom of the table and were knocked out of the Champions League qualifiers 9-1 on aggregate by Club Brugge.

Ahead of the Europa League opener against Genk, another Belgian side, at Ibrox on Thursday night, Martin described the level of scrutiny at the club as “like nothing else in football” but which has come as no surprise to the former Gers defender.

“Being a head coach or manager of any club is not easy,” said Martin, who revealed midfielder Joe Rothwell is back in the squad, which is missing suspended defender Max Aarons.

Midfielder Lyall Cameron should be back next week and long-term absentees Rabbi Matondo and Dujon Sterling are “back on the grass” training but will not be involved any time soon.

“There’s always so many opinions, because of a level of interest in this game and what it does to people, how much it means to people.

“I’ve actually, in a perverse way, enjoyed that as well.

“I think you have to. I think you have to try and find enjoyment in everything.

“And I’ve said to the players and the staff – and it counts for us as well as individuals – the amount of growth of that can come from this and this difficult period could be brilliant for everyone, and myself included.

“So we just have to keep working, do what we believe in, and trust that the outcome will be positive.”

Asked if the players have enjoyed the rather bruising process, he replied “not so much”.

The former Scotland defender added: “As coaches, we all got into it to help players as much as possible. To win as much as possible in a certain way.

“I think when you’re in the midst of it, there’s so many games, you don’t have time to really take stock and you’re just trying to analyse that one, move to the next one.

“If they can really get going in this place, the potential for them to enjoy and be successful is amazing, but also to get through a tough period together can be amazing for everyone.

“So they definitely enjoyed Saturday, they definitely enjoyed the process of last week, in training really hard together. And I think the more they find joy in it, the better you’ll see them perform on a Saturday.”

Martin claims his side are going “to attack” the Europa League and asked about Thorsten Fink’s Genk, who have had a similarly tough start to the season as they sit 14th out of 16 teams in the Belgian top flight, the Gers boss said: “I’m sure their head coach is frustrated. They had a brilliant season last season.

“They finished ahead of Club Brugge and having watched Brugge against us and then Monaco last week (4-1 win), you will realise that’s not an easy task.

“But it’s about us being at home, generating the energy.

“We want to turn it into the game that we want to, but they have some really good players, a good team and that’s why they’re playing in this competition and why they had a good season last season.

“So we’ll be aware of that and we respect that, but it has to be about us and building on Saturday and trying to improve.”