Martin squashes Raskin rumours, Meghoma and Dessers update

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Russell, in the next couple of weeks, you've got two massive Champions League qualifiers and the first Old Firm game of the season. Just how big are these next 13 days, do you think, are for the team and for the club?

Yeah, I think it's a really exciting period for us. I'm looking forward to it. I think the players are looking forward to it. Every game is big for us and part of the evolution, development for the team, for us as a group moving forward. So yeah, it's really, it's a time to be really excited about, I think, for us as a group and to really see where we are at.

Yesterday the club announced the signing of Jayden Meghoma. Is he going to be registered in time for tomorrow's match and if so, is he one that's ready to be thrown straight in?

Yeah, I think he's, I think he's going to be registered. We hope so anyway. So, we'll have to wait and see, but yeah, that's the hopes that he can be in the squad. And yeah, we will see today and yesterday he trained, so we'll see if he's ready to go.

What do you need to go and get a result against Brugge?

Just to perform in the, in the way that we really believe the players can, similar to the Plzen game here with the same level of intensity, energy, courage with the ball. Yeah, so they have to they have to really trust the work, they have to really trust each other. It should be an amazing atmosphere. The two European nights we've had here already have been fantastic, the crowd have been incredible, the players have fed off the energy. So we have to try and replicate that as much as we can.

Is everyone fit and available?

Yeah, I think big Cyriel's probably the only concern really. So he'll be touch and go. He's responded really well to treatment and as I said it was nowhere near as bad as we first feared. So if it's not tomorrow, we expect him to be back for the weekend and next week.

When you were appointed here, you said in your press conference you'd had other offers elsewhere, but it was nights like this that really made you decide to come to Rangers. Is this sort of what you had in mind, is this the excitement levels you wanted?

Yeah, I think we're excited about it all. So we've been here just under two months now, seven weeks or whatever it's been. And I'm more excited than ever really. So like it hasn't diminished one bit. I think you have to take, you have to roll with the punches here for sure. And I think early on we understand we were going to have a bit of pain to go through. We have to win while we're going through some pain. So we're into this round, huge opportunity to qualify for, you know, one of the best competitions in world football. So it's incredibly exciting and we have to attack it with everything we've got as a group, as a team. And I really believe we can do it. And I really hope that we give the lads enough belief that we can do it. And I know that tomorrow night the supporters will definitely do their bit for the team and it will be a, it could be a really brilliant night. And I spoke to you about this when you come to this club, you have a chance to have experience moments that you just don't get at any other football club and tomorrow night can be another night like that.

The fans have a role to play as well, don’t they?

Yeah, we have to give them, we have to really, like it's both. The energy's reciprocal. The team needs to play with so much energy that then the fans feed off that. And so that'll be the message to the players. And I spoke to the players this week about they have to enjoy, they have to play with a bit more joy here at Ibrox because it can be so special and so brilliant. And there's still a bit of tension at times and all that stuff. So our job is to give them enough clarity and consistency that they can actually enjoy playing for this football club and enjoy moments like that because it should be, it should be one of the best opportunities and times of your career.

Of course, it's going to be tough at times and all that stuff, but seize the opportunity that you have whilst you're here. And I think you have moments of joy when you're hungry and you hunt the ball and you run for each other and you look around and your mate wants to take the ball and you look after each other with the ball and if there's a fight to be had, you fight together. So find joy in all of that. And I think there's not been enough in the group for sure. There's not been enough like real moments of enjoying what they are doing. So it's our job to make sure we do that and if we play like that with that energy, then I think the fans will enjoy it as well.

How how do you get that balance, Russell, between enjoying it, yet, you know, you've got to win every game at Rangers?

You have to win every game at every football club, I think that's the job.

But how do you get that balance then between the enjoyment and the pressure that comes with having to win?

Well, I think it's looking at like the fundamentals first. Enjoy the horrible part of the game. So enjoy competing, enjoy fighting, enjoy looking around and knowing that you are, your mate's going to do his job properly at a set piece, enjoy having clarity in what you're being asked to do on the pitch. You haven't got to make it up. So enjoy like that, stepping onto the pitch, enjoy the moment of playing in front of 52,000. It's not easy. It's not easy as a footballer, it is sometimes really difficult. Our job is to give them enough clarity that they know exactly what they're doing with and without the ball. And then the moments of enjoyment come from giving it absolutely everything you've got and celebrating even the small moments together. If someone does their job, let them know and look after each other a bit more. And everyone enjoys winning, of course, so that has to be the first focus. It's not going to be, oh you know we enjoyed it and no one enjoys losing, but I'm just talking about enjoying stepping foot in the building every day when you play for this this football club and how much it how much it means to so many people. So I have a lot of people message me who read message boards and stuff who are concerned about me and they just don't have to be. So I keep telling my mum ‘don't worry about it, it's all good.’ I'm enjoying it. I'm really enjoying it. I appreciate the honour of managing this club every day and the gratitude I feel for that. So let's have that in the building. I said it to the staff as well, like so many of them support the club, but I think they've lost a bit of joy of being here and working here. So let's get back to that. Let's understand how big this is and how brilliant it could be and focus on what we can control and that is playing with so much energy tomorrow and really feeding off it.

Can you give us some clarity on on Nicolas Raskin? Is he is he in the squad? Is he in the right mindset now?

Yeah, he's got better and better, I think he'll get better and better. He was only not in the squad on Saturday for a rest. He picked up a kick on Tuesday, but he's trained really well. I think, yeah, I think we... he's going to be a big player for us. I said that from the beginning. But I also said obviously it's been a difficult summer for him and all that, but I really, the last few weeks I've loved the energy that Nico's brought and he's going to be really important for us and he will he will play tomorrow and he'll be a big player for us.

There was some reports at the weekend that he had asked to leave the club. Can you squash those reports?

Yeah, no, he's been really good. So we analysed his clips, me and him together, from Tuesday. So yeah, no, I've not heard anything. Not at all. So he's been he's been brilliant and I'm pretty sure Kevin and Patrick and the gang would have told me if we'd have heard that, so no.

Russell, when you arrived at the club a couple of months ago, I'm sure you would have come into it with your eyes open and you would have known it was a going to be a fairly significant rebuild. I just wonder with regards to the Champions League football, if you can secure that, how would that help accelerate the develop the development of the team?

Well, I think the belief it would give the players I think would be massive. I think financially obviously what it would do for the football club would be would be huge. So I think if we're able to do it, which I really believe we are, if we can do it and qualify for it, I think it'd be brilliant and I think, like someone asked me, you know, have we got the squad depth and all that to sustain it. I don't think we need to worry about it. I think let's try and get in there first and then we're building a squad that's that has to compete in Europe whether it's Europa League or the Champions League. So I think it'd be incredibly exciting. It would help us a lot as a football club moving forward and not just financially and all that but what it would what it would do for the players and their belief and to then put yourself against some of the best teams in the world would be would be brilliant, a brilliant opportunity for us. So we're here to try and attack it as much as we can.

What would it mean to you from a personal point of view if you were to take Rangers to the Champions League proper for the first time of asking?

Well, yeah, it'd be a be a massive achievement for all of us but it's not it's not about me, it's not about any individual player. It's genuinely about what's best for the club and how exciting that would be for all of us. So I was so pleased for us to get through the first tie against Panathinaikos after such a short amount of time and the difficulty of that tie, which they showed after they went and won their next one. So, yeah, I think every competition we play in is an opportunity for us to show what we can be and tomorrow's the same. So it's not about, it's not about how I would feel and all that stuff, it's about us as a group and it could be a huge moment for us.

Are these ties your biggest games as a manager?

They're huge games. Yeah, I think the play-off final for Southampton and knowing the ramifications and what would happen if we didn't get promoted was a very heavy responsibility. Maybe jobs were going to be lost, the club would look very different the next season. So that was very, very big for us as a group. But yeah, this is huge. This we're at this this club and we have an opportunity to really go and achieve something tomorrow that will put us in a really good place. So, yeah, it's a massive, massive game. I it's really difficult like when I look back at my playing career to define which one was the most important as a man but this is huge. It's massive for us as a group of staff, massive for the team, massive for the club, and I'm looking forward to it.

Do you consider yourselves underdogs to progress or is your mentality that we're here, you expect your players to win this game?

Yeah, I don't think we'd ever go into any game with considering ourselves underdogs for sure. I think it's a coach I know well. We were in Wales at the same time together at different clubs, different levels, but we played against them a few times and we exchanged some ideas at the time and Nicky's done a great job. But it has to be about us. It has to be about what we are going to do, how we are going to attack the game, try and turn it into the game we want it to be and we're playing at home. So I expect the team to put in a performance that enables us to win the game and gives us a chance of winning the game and that's what we're going to aim to do for sure.

We saw Brugge a few weeks ago, is that game got any relevance in terms of the quality of them, with the quality of your side in terms of having evolved in since then?

I think both teams look very different already. So I think there's a few patterns we've definitely looked at over the last few days that that have been consistent in their games moving forward, but personnel are different, the circumstances are different, the atmosphere is going to be very different. So I think it's very hard to read too much into that for sure and we're a very different team now in terms of personnel as well. So no, I think we've watched a lot of their recent games rather than our friendly game, but of course we've looked at a few things from it.

Is the possibility of qualifying and having a positive few weeks the carrot for you?

Yeah, I just think all the time we have to talk about opportunity and seizing it and the opportunities you have at this football club. So I think when I talk about like positivity and all that, we're not sitting in going ‘it's all great’, not that false like positivity that it's just not realistic. We're realistic. We have to improve in in so many areas, but let's look at the opportunities that are ahead of us and what we can go and achieve and what it could look like in a month's time, in in a week's time. So, yeah, I think for us it's consistently focusing on what we can improve and most of the time when we're looking backwards at games, we can't then affect what's happened in that game, we can only affect what's moving forward. So always, always looking forward, looking at how we can do better, looking at tomorrow's game, what's going to be really important for us and having a follow that all the time, but being really consistent with our messages about the opportunities that you have at this football club and how you should feel and or you should try and feel playing for this football club. So look at that rather than you know feeling the weight of it at some times and all that stuff. Look at what can happen to you if you do really well here and what you can achieve. So I think there is so much to be excited about for this group of players, this group of staff and this football club and we have to do our best to make sure that is the outcome.