Credit: Imago

Declan Carr

Thu 19 March 2026 19:10, UK

Barry Ferguson believes that the decisions to let Vaclav Cerny and Cyriel Dessers leave Rangers were the reasons why Russell Martin failed.

Martin was handed the permanent job in Govan in June 2025, with Ferguson’s interim stint in the dugout coming to an end.

The Gers legend managed the likes of Cerny and Dessers, so he knows exactly how good they were, but Martin and the recruitment team decided not to sign the Czech winger and to let the Nigerian forward leave.

Ferguson thinks that call is what doomed Martin’s stint in charge of Rangers, which saw him dismissed after 17 matches in October 2025.

What did Barry Ferguson say?

Martin had opened up on his Rangers spell earlier in the week, on BBC Radio 5 Live’s Monday Night Club show.

Ferguson said he had heard the interview, which he found interesting, but had little sympathy for the former Southampton man, as he was part of the recruitment team.

Speaking to the Daily Record on 19 March, the Gers legend said: “I heard Russell Martin on the radio the other day and let’s just say it was an interesting listen.

“He clearly has his own ideas on the way he thinks the game should be played and says he regrets not sticking more rigidly to those principles – and that’s fine.

“But there’s only one principle that matters for any Rangers manager, and that’s finding a way of winning.

“Unfortunately for Russell, he struggled to do that and he did admit that he probably let too many big players leave when he took the job last summer. I agree. But he was part of the decision-making process at the time.

“I made no secret of the fact that I would have moved heaven and earth to keep Vaclav Cerny at the club. And I also struggled to see any sense in letting Cyriel Dessers leave because I know how much playing for the club meant to the big man.”

Cerny and Dessers would have won Rangers the league

Cerny was beloved by Light Blues supporters, and they were desperate to bring him back after a loan spell in which he scored 18 goals and notched nine assists.

However, no agreement was reached and he moved to Besiktas in Turkey instead.

Dessers, was a frustrating figure in his time with the Bears, with a reputation for missing big chances and fluffling his lines.

However, that is harsh, he notched 52 goals and 17 assists in 116 matches in his career with the Govan side, which is a solid return, before his move to Panathinaikos.

There is every likelihood that if Danny Rohl had the duo under his belt right now, the Auchenhowie side would be comfortable at the top of the Scottish Premiership right now.

Martin was a bad appointment from the off, he did not get the Gers way, but letting those two players leave, as Ferguson argues, was one of his worst decisions and definitely did not help his cause.

He was always going to struggle, but even more so, without two key stars who had a lot of contributions the season before.

Updated 24/7 with expert analysis from the heart of Govan.