When Kevin Thelwell and Russell Martin spoke at the head coach’s unveiling last month, both made a subtle point that, without discrediting previous managers, dissected certain shortcomings.
Discussing Martin’s style to others who have gone before, sporting director Thelwell said: “The game should be less transitional, with respect.”
“The concept of the game will always be the same: to try and dominate. To dominate the ball and to dominate territory,” Martin added, referencing in another interview that football shouldn’t connote a game of basketball, in its end-to-end, frenetic style. Not when you’re a team seeking to dominate the ball, at least.
The appeal of appointing Martin at Ibrox was two-fold. Rangers believe he has a track record of implementing a structured game model that can provide some much-needed identity on the pitch, as well as the personality and authority to communicate and implement it.
Increasingly, we are seeing the recruitment of managers reflect that of players, expertise over experience. From Inter Milan opting for former player Christian Chivu, taking over the Champions League finalists after only months as a manager in his own right, to Bayern Munich appointing Vincent Kompany after he was relegated with Burnley. It is accurate to suggest that, with exceptions, more and more clubs prioritise what coaches can achieve (implementing a style to bring success) over a historic track record of trophies won in very different football landscapes.
There was a telling moment towards the end of Barry Ferguson’s time as interim Rangers boss, following a 2-2 draw with St Mirren, that brings this example closer to home.
“It’s disappointing because when you speak to players individually and spend a bit of time with them, and collectively as a group, and you ask them to do certain things and they don’t do it, what is the point?” he said, frustrated at his team’s showing.
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Few, if any, would command respect like Ferguson as a figurehead at Ibrox. Few, if any, could tell stories to last season’s group of what this club means, what to expect at various away grounds, and why it is very important to win. But every manager wants to win; doing it is a different matter.
Fundamentally, football is also very, very different to even 15 years ago, as are players. If you were to run the business you work in, whatever field that relates to, in the same way it functioned 15 years ago, what would be the result? Some elements may be similar, sure, but plenty of processes are new and updated, and lessons have been learned to inform the current strategy.
Football is now a sport of marginal gains, recruitment teams and monetisation. On the pitch, players need to be shown rather than told. Information is useful, but what this Rangers squad have sorely lacked is a coach who can coach them in a style that most dominant teams win leagues playing right around the world. As Martin said, discussing Nico Raskin last week, “I think less is probably more with Nico. We can get more out of him, more end product by doing a bit less, so he hasn't got to make the game up now.”
The key phrase was the last part: “He hasn't got to make the game up now.” All of which leads us back to the topic at the top of this column - territory.
Football's hegemonic state has not been founded on free-flowing, risky play but control above all else. That is perhaps the great misunderstanding of Pep Guardiola. Famously, Mikel Arteta said Guardiola thought of himself as “the most defensive coach in the world” because before anything else, he desires control and having the ball means the opposition don’t and therefore, cannot score.
Consider how many games you watched at Ibrox last season that were end-to-end affairs with Motherwell, St Mirren or Dundee. Especially under Philippe Clement, as last season’s data depicts, Rangers’ issue before an inability to break down a low block was an inability to set the tone with the football.
If Martin’s core idea comes back to ‘dominating the ball and dominating territory’, all else will flow from that. Different formations will come and go, but the core values remain the same. As renowned football writer Jonathan Wilson puts it: “In football 'pragmatic' tends to be a synonym for defensive or direct, but the truth is the vast majority of managers are pragmatists; they play how they play because they believe that is what offers them the best chance of success.”
Clement also spoke about “domination”, but the synonyms of his version were very different. As one source who’d worked with the Belgian in the past told the Rangers Review, he didn’t enjoy watching teams himself who spent a long time building play, instead prioritising progressing at speed, or playing with ‘verticality’.
The issue was that, after teams worked that out, Rangers were still instructed to go forward quickly under Clement and without a team built for second balls and functional football, they were too predictable. It wasn’t even a case of opponents knowing that Rangers could not break them down, but rather, that Rangers did not really want to spend a lot of time on the ball. Which is an issue when you average over 60 percent in a league with two sides that are so dominant. The reason last season’s squad thrived in chaotic end-to-end Old Firm or European fixtures was the same one that caused them to struggle most Saturdays.
While attacking chance creation numbers were down compared to previous campaigns in 2024/25, that was not the biggest issue at Ibrox - instead, it was the small margin between chances created and conceded, better known as xG difference. In a word, the control they enjoyed.
Last season, Rangers’ xG difference of 0.86 (the variance between chances conceded and created) was the worst since the 2017/18 season.
The below graph charts the opportunities created in green (xG) and conceded in purple (xG conceded). The bigger the sustained gap, seeing as this chart is a rolling average, the better.
Look at the difference in Rangers’ xG difference across the season…
And compare it to the consistency of Celtic’s…
This epitomises the 2024/25 campaign, where Rangers so often looked better in games where they didn’t dominate the ball. They ended the season with a positive Old Firm record and went deep in European competition again; however, it was Celtic’s controlled plan over the course and comfort in possession that saw them lift yet another league title with games to spare.
Why is dominating territory important? At a most basic level, if you are closer to your opposition’s goal and further away from your own, statistically, you’re normally in a safer zone. Guardiola’s assertion that "If you have the ball, the opponent can’t score” is another translation. “When you control the ball, you control the game,” says new Real Madrid boss Xabi Alonso.
For the underdog, the greater the number of variables and transitions, the better. For the favourite, minimising risks will lead you to win more regularly.
And what about Martin’s apparent high-wire football? No style does not have areas that are riskier, but while we tend to think of a short pass under pressure as dangerous, how much safer is the long ball that turns over possession?
The opportunity to watch training last week at St George’s Park, as Martin walked his team through various phases of the game, showed how much, if not more, work was put into what was being done off the ball to control exchanges compared to when Rangers had it.
Contrary to opinion, a manager like Martin would probably quite fancy facing low block after low block, backing his coaching to make chances and keeping the opponent far away from goal, unable to break pressure with an attack.
Martin explained more following the Club Brugge encounter, discussing the importance of adhering to structure, concerning midfielders remaining in their position.
He said, discussing No.8s Nedim Bajrami and Mo Diomande: “They haven’t got to run around like lunatics to get the ball, they’ve got to trust that the guys will get them the ball so that when they do get it, they have the energy to go and really do their stuff and express themselves.
“It’s the same as the wingers, they also need to receive the ball closer to goal. The first few days they were so far away from goal, but the goal we scored today, Findlay Curtis is running towards goal and he finishes it beautifully. That has to become habit all the time, they don’t have to do things spectacularly individual until they get into the box… the rest of the time they have to trust in each other and play in their position.”
If anything, Martin’s appointment should afford Rangers something they’ve lacked for so long: not just identity, but control.
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