Russell Martin

[benjii]

He's gone Pardew style. Suit and a shiny t shirt.

 

Lolz.

[Lord Duckhunter]

They’ve started well, no Lego ball yet. 
 

Cock up, incoming 😂😂

Edited 31 August, 2025 by Lord Duckhunter

[Turkish]

Not a very Russball performance so far are the players ignoring him or has he gone back on his principles? 

[trousers]

1 minute ago, Turkish said:

Not a very Russball performance so far are the players ignoring him or has he gone back on his principles? 

 

2 hours ago, trousers said:

If Martin is consistent with our Championship season he'll ditch 'Russball' for this match and get something out of the game as a result, much like he did whenever we played Leeds (which happened to coincide with coming off the back of a bad run each time). 

☝🏻

[Turkish]

2 minutes ago, trousers said:

 

☝🏻

That isn’t very brave of him 

[coalman]

Heady stuff. 30 minutes in.

Edited 31 August, 2025 by coalman

[AlexLaw76]

1-0 to Rangers

They have been decent to be fair, and a clear shift from 'trusting the process'

is it offside?

[coalman]

Saying that.... Rangers 1-0 up. The dream is on.

[TheSoundman]

Offside Ref!!!!!

YEAH!

(The universe intervened. LOL)

Edited 31 August, 2025 by TheSoundman

[coalman]

VAR rules it out for off side. Still no shots and no goals.

[coalman]

Scottish commentator "we're talking fractions here" with the graphic showing the player entirely ahead of the defender.

[coalman]

Martin responds by turning round and flicking his hair angrily.

[Turkish]

2 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

1-0 to Rangers

They have been decent to be fair, and a clear shift from 'trusting the process'

is it offside?

Full of shit isn’t he. All the bollocks about trusting the process and players being brave, first sign of the fans on his back and he changes everything 

[coalman]

1 minute ago, Turkish said:

Full of shit isn’t he. All the bollocks about trusting the process and players being brave, first sign of the fans on his back and he changes everything 

I think the players are letting emotion take over and ignoring instructions. Just like the playoff final.

[benjii]

It's a fairly enjoyable watch for the atmosphere and the sectarian hatred, but I'm not impressed with Celtic at all.

If they're the best that Scooootland has to offer then I think Rangers should give Russ a couple of years. He'll build a far better team than this Celtic team.

[SambaMaverick]

Changed style to save his own skin yet again

Coward

[Toussaint]

2 minutes ago, coalman said:

I think the players are letting emotion take over and ignoring instructions. Just like the playoff final.

I thought that would happen , too much pride at stake to “trust the process“ on this occasion 

[Jack]

9 minutes ago, benjii said:

It's a fairly enjoyable watch for the atmosphere and the sectarian hatred, but I'm not impressed with Celtic at all.

If they're the best that Scooootland has to offer then I think Rangers should give Russ a couple of years. He'll build a far better team than this Celtic team.

I bet Celtic would love him to be given the opportunity for as long as that. 
 

Celtic have been shite here more than Rangers being any good I think 

[Gloucester Saint]

Rangers the better side, just that final ball needs to be slightly better. Gassama in behind again there and just needs to be slightly better.

Rodgers has totally lost his mojo - Celtic dire and their own midweek Europe disaster.

[coalman]

1 minute ago, Gloucester Saint said:

Rangers the better side, just that final ball needs to be slightly better. Gassama in behind again there and just needs to be slightly better.

Rodgers has totally lost his mojo - Celtic dire and their own midweek Europe disaster.

Rodgers teams are always shit after 2 seasons.

[coalman]

Fully expecting Slothwell to be on soon for Rangers and for them to surrender midfield. That being said - Celtic deserve nothing from this match.

Edited 31 August, 2025 by coalman

[obelisk]

15 minutes ago, Gloucester Saint said:

Rangers the better side, just that final ball needs to be slightly better. Gassama in behind again there and just needs to be slightly better.

Rodgers has totally lost his mojo - Celtic dire and their own midweek Europe disaster.

Dreadful game. It's almost as if Celtic have come with a game plan designed to keep Martin in charge at Rangers.

[AlexLaw76]

Celtic are f-ing shite

[Turkish]

Even Chris Sutton called it Russball 😂

[trousers]

Commentator: "it's not the Russball we expected to see"

😂

[gio1saints]

53 minutes ago, SambaMaverick said:

Changed style to save his own skin yet again

Coward

Calling someone a coward online from the safety of your computer desk miles away…😉Irony is lost on you. 

[Jack]

Butland playing long, very little fucking about at the back. Russ has bottled this. I bet they go back to his usual brand of suicide-ball against Hearts next and it’ll be no wins from 5 in the league 

[trousers]

4 minutes ago, Turkish said:

Even Chris Sutton called it Russball 😂

One assumes in the post match interview he'll deny that he made any significant tactical changes, as per the script...

Edited 31 August, 2025 by trousers

[bangkoksaint]

Awful game. If this is now the standard of the 2 elite Scottish clubs then the quality isn’t even Championship standard 

[AlexLaw76]

Celtic looking slightly better with about 10+ mins to go

[OttawaSaint]

1 minute ago, Jack said:

Butland playing long, very little fucking about at the back. Russ has bottled this. I bet they go back to his usual brand of suicide-ball against Hearts next and it’ll be no wins from 5 in the league 

So he really does know just how ineffective his "tactics" are. Did the same with us in the playoffs. Abandoned it. Baffling that he keeps trying it over an over again. 

[SW11_Saint]

Rothwell coming on. Excellent. 

[OttawaSaint]

Only Russ could make the Old Firm Derby boring!

[trousers]

Full time. The unbeaten run world record is still on!

 

Edited 31 August, 2025 by trousers

[Saint_clark]

Fuck me that was boring as sin.

[skintsaint]

Well thats 90mins of my life wasted watching that shite.

[Saint NL]

Has a team ever drawn every league game before?

[CB Fry]

Absolutely unbelievable unbeaten run he's on in the league, playing the Russell Martin way 👏 👍 😎

[bangkoksaint]

Wonder what the Rangers forums are saying? The boos said everything 

[sockeye]

Hearts will win the league this year 😎. This is a premonition I had based on there being no Shankland to Saints link this summer.

[Harry_SFC]

16 minutes ago, OttawaSaint said:

So he really does know just how ineffective his "tactics" are. Did the same with us in the playoffs. Abandoned it. Baffling that he keeps trying it over an over again. 

We abandoned it for our games vs Leeds and we won all 3. To me, that means his tactics don't work. 

[AlexLaw76]

Rangers the better side, but that was fucking terrible. 

No meaningful shot on target, was there?

Nice to see the 'process' binned for the moment - but it will be back

[coalman]

Still unbeaten in the league. That's one hell of a start.

[Lord Duckhunter]

Pundit not impressed with the cuddling at the end. 
 

One of the players saying they were brave. 
 

 

[gio1saints]

2 minutes ago, Harry_SFC said:

We abandoned it for our games vs Leeds and we won all 3. To me, that means his tactics don't work. 

That’s a good argument but - please hear this - By your own brand of logic - and to be consistent - in all the games we won or drew other than with Leeds you must also feel that his tactics DID work - because we got promoted right?
 

The Job was not done just in the final match but also in every win/draw that enabled us to get to the Final. 

All the win/drawmatches count - or none of them count - as Martins tactical success. You cannot have him failing for 42 matches succeeding in just 3 - you know put it that way it’s obviously not so. 

So maybe without realising it, you have shown yourself to be someone with a deeper more holistic understanding of football than most! 😃

[Weston Super Saint]

36 minutes ago, gio1saints said:

Calling someone a coward online from the safety of your computer desk miles away…😉Irony is lost on you. 

Could be posting from his phone sat next to him for all you know.

[Lord Duckhunter]

Lego

Proud of performance 

Guys we’re hungry 

most shots in league before today. 

Today was a platform. 

6 points off top.

He is well supported by ownership, amazing, speaks to Kevin and Patrick regularly. 

 

 

[egg]

37 minutes ago, Harry_SFC said:

We abandoned it for our games vs Leeds and we won all 3. To me, that means his tactics don't work. 

That doesn't make sense to be fair.

He used tactics. Different ones. There's never a football match without some sort of tactics being used. 

[Badger]

Over an hour before the first booking so not the most fiercely fought match they’ve ever had.

Saw another comment on the BBC site before the game which amused me  saying this was expected to be more of a battle between the infirm rather than Old Firm. 

[Badger]

Scuffy cunt. 
 

Mind you Brendan could be lapsing into Rab C Nesbitt as well.