Rangers could axe Martin to hire manager who McCoist thinks is “remarkable”

Glasgow Rangers suffered their joint-worst defeat in a European match on Wednesday night when they were hammered 6-0 by Club Brugge in their Champions League qualifier.

“Rangers fans deserve a lot better” are the words that left Ally McCoist’s mouth in his post-game analysis on TNT Sports’ coverage of the match, and it was a fair comment to make.

Russell Martin has only won three, drawing four and losing three, of his ten matches in charge of the Ibrox giants he was appointed as the new head coach in the summer.

Why Rangers should sack Russell Martin

The Light Blues have conceded 17 goals, failed to win any of their Scottish Premiership matches, and been knocked out of the Champions League within the first month of the 2025/26 campaign.

However you want to spin it, whatever mitigation there is to add with signings or red cards, it has not been good enough, and the supporters, as Ally said, deserve better.

The Scottish Sun reports that a section, at least, of supporters were chanting in favour of Martin losing his job. Anyone who tuned in to watch the match or was there in the flesh would have heard some of the choice words that came from the travelling fans.

There is no getting away from how disastrous the start to the season has been and, with a clash with Celtic at Ibrox on the horizon, the board should make the decision to brutally part ways with him.

The manager Rangers should replace Russell Martin with

Back in April, prior to Rangers appointing Martin, McCoist backed the Scottish giants to pursue a deal for Sean Dyche, who is currently out of a job.

He said: “I’d take Sean [Dyche at Rangers] all day. I think Sean Dyche is an excellent manager, excellent. His work at Burnley was nothing short of remarkable.”

With this in mind, the board should consider parting ways with Martin to pursue a deal for Dyche, who could solve the woeful defensive shortcomings that have been seen on the pitch this season.

The English tactician has clear principles in place for how he wants his side to be compact and defend spaces in a 4-4-2 formation, as explained in the video above.

A 4-4-2 system that can easily pivot to a 4-4-1-1 out of possession or a 4-2-3-1 in possession provides tactical flexibility without giving up numbers defensively or leaving the team overexposed in transition, as has been the case with Martin’s system.

As you can see in the table above, Dyche has enjoyed a very respectable career in the Premier League with Burnley and Everton, which also speaks to his defensive coaching because he has largely steered his teams clear of relegation with his hard-to-beat set-ups.

However, the out-of-work boss also coached a winning team with Burnley in the past when he racked up 93 points to win the title in the Championship in the 2015/16 campaign, his last season outside of the Premier League.

Having a manager who has a blend of experience in coaching a winning side, as Rangers need to be in the Premiership, as well as knowing how to organise and structure a defence effectively, could be exactly what is needed at Ibrox.

Therefore, Dyche, despite maybe not being an exciting appointment on paper, could be the silver bullet that the 49ers need to turn to after this horrendous start under Martin, if they decide to sack him.