Russell Martin emerged as last Rangers man standing and one burning question will determine his fate – Keith Jackson

Things may have to get worse before they get better.

Those were the words of warning issued to Rangers supporters on these pages a week or so ago, shortly after Andrew Cavenagh and his US consortium had completed a takeover of the club, in a multi-million pound buyout which was first revealed by the Daily Record back in February.

It was no more than an educated hunch based on experience and around the oddities of a perplexing recruitment process which, on Wednesday, crystallised in the appointment of Russell Martin as the new manager at Ibrox. Or head coach to give him his proper, new age, title.

Once again, we told you first, online at just after 6pm, that Martin’s contract had been agreed and that his unveiling was imminent. And within the hour our exclusive was being confirmed by the club’s PR department.

But that’s quite enough trumpet blowing for the time being.

Because at 11:15am this morning the 39-year-old walked into a packed out media room to begin the task of fronting up Cavenagh’s new era from the sidelines.

And he did so against a backdrop of almost unanimous anger and negativity.

Things may have to get worse before they get better. That certainly seems to be the general consensus now that the likes of Steven Gerrard and Davide Ancelotti have fallen by the wayside and Martin has emerged as the last man standing

It seems almost brutally unkind to hammer home the point on the day that Martin takes on such a treasured and cherished position. He will be rightly proud of this moment and, quite clearly, he trusts in his own ability to prove himself as a worthy, successful candidate.

He has big ideas on how the game ought to be played and if he can pull it all off and transform a ramshackle Rangers side into a