Danny Rohl may end up no better than Russell Martin in ‘damning’ Rangers verdict
Danny Rohl will be desperate to win silverware in his first season at Ibrox, yet Rangers have been told they may ultimately be not better off than they were under Russell Martin.
Back-to-back 2-2 draws with Livingston and Celtic leaves Rangers six points off the top of the Scottish Premiership table, and their hopes of winning the Scottish Premiership for the first time in five years are fading away.
Despite doing a brilliantly to get back into the mix for the title, the Bears may have left themselves with too much to do to catch league leaders Hearts.
Rangers host Celtic in a Scottish Cup quarter-final clash at Ibrox on Sunday, and an exit from that competition would certainly be the worst-case scenario for Rohl.
And if that were to happen, then fans may start to argue that he has achieved as much as predecessor Martin did in G51.
Danny Rohl could follow Russell Martin at Rangers by failing to win a trophy
Martin was hounded out by the supporters, who were furious with the team’s performance in both domestic and European competitions.
Rangers’ elimination from the Champions League playoffs to Club Brugge was disastrous and marked the moment that the majority of fans started to turn on the former Southampton manager.
Martin’s reign is the shortest of any of the 21 permanent managers in the history of Rangers, lasting just 123 days in Govan.
However, if Rohl’s side were to get knocked out of the Scottish Cup on Sunday, then the German head coach’s best chance of winning silverware would go out the window, ultimately leaving him with the same number of trophies as Martin.
| Rohl | Stat | Martin |
| 30 | Games managed | 17 |
| 17 | Wins | 5 |
| 7 | Draws | 6 |
| 6 | Losses | 6 |
| 56.67% | Win percentage | 29.41% |
In the Daily Record, journalist Scott McDermott said: “This might sound damning but someone said it to me the other day and it’s true.
“If Rangers lose on Sunday and have any more slip ups in the league, potentially finishing third or fourth, the season will end as people feared it would under Martin.
“When Martin was having an absolute nightmare and the season was unraveling very early, people thought it was going to be a horrendous season by finishing outside the top two and failing to win any trophies.”
And that certainly isn’t out of the question, which would be a horrendous outcome after all the work Rohl has done to re-establish the Bears as a top side in Scotland.
This is why it’s unfair to compare Rohl with Martin
Martin’s inability to plug defensive problems was one of the key reasons why he was sacked.
Despite making several defensive reinforcements in the transfer window, the balance of the team has looked completely off as Rangers have looked shaky to say the least.
The Light Blues kept three clean sheets in 17 matches during his tenure, and Rohl has done well to oversee a change in their fortunes at the back.
The likes of Emmanuel Fernandez and Nasser Djiga have improved massively, while Youssef Chermiti and Nico Raskin have also stepped up their game going forward.
Although Rohl may end his first season trophyless, he needs time at the start of next season to deliver.
Only then can he be judged in the same scope as Martin was.
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