Russell Martin has claimed that everything is calm behind the scenes at Rangers despite the furious reaction from supporters to the capitulation against Club Brugge on Tuesday.
With the team three goals down inside 20 minutes of the first leg of their Champions League play-off at Ibrox, thousands of fans made for the exit with those who remained jeering the team off at half-time.
While Danilo pulled a goal back in the second half, the outcome extended a difficult start to life in the dugout for Martin.
Still without a Premiership win ahead of Sunday’s away game with St Mirren, the manager faces an uphill battle to win over a fanbase which has been largely unimpressed with what they’ve seen to date.
But the 39-year-old insists the mood of the club’s hierarchy hasn’t changed with the adverse results and firmly believes there’s an understanding on their part that it may take time for his work to bear fruit.
‘I’ve had nothing but support from Andrew (Cavenagh, chairman), Paraag (Marathe, vice chairman), Gretar (Steinsson, 49ers technical director), Kevin (Thelwell, sporting director) and Patrick (Stewart, CEO),’ he said.
‘All the staff here have been fantastic. They understand you need to build something. It might take a bit of time.
‘And it’s why I got the job. It wasn’t an easy process, but I really wanted it. Eventually, they decided they wanted me after a lot of conversations.
‘It’s only when you’re in somewhere, and it’s the same for them, then you start to see, okay, this needs sorting, that needs sorting. Then you have to prioritise.
‘So, our job on the pitch is to prioritise on the stuff that’s hurt us a little bit at the moment.
‘And their job is the same off the pitch — to make sure that we’re in a really good place and we actually have some foundations to build from. They’ve been great, really supportive.
‘In terms of the transfer window, they’ve been great. I can’t wait for that to shut. I’m pretty sure they’ll feel the same way.
‘But everyone’s calm inside here and everyone is just focusing on what we can impact moving forward.’
Martin has signed 10 players to date but would still like to add some old heads by the time the window closes on September 1.
‘The team would benefit from having some experienced players on the pitch that are used to the big occasion,’ he added.
‘They would be there to help their team-mates, for sure, because we have a lot of young guys who are growing into it and they will get better and better.
‘I think it goes without saying that if you look at the spine of any successful team, there’s some real experienced guys and you can always rely on them.
'Even if they’re not going to be eight or nine out of 10, you know exactly what you’re going to get every single week.
‘It’s something we’ve been aware of from the start of the window. If we can find a couple of those, it would be great.’
Cyriel Dessers isn’t available for the short trip to Paisley, although the Nigeria international does have a chance of featuring in Wednesday’s return leg in Belgium.
Hamza Igamane, who came off the bench in midweek, isn’t ready to start, meaning Danilo will once again lead the line.
‘He’s only had probably five or six training sessions,’ Martin explained of Igamane. ‘He came back really late and, obviously, he had a couple of injuries.
‘It’s the balance of him training, then doing extra conditioning, but being ready to perform still. He’s not far off, but he’s not quite there yet.’
The manager confirmed that Ridvan Yilmaz, Ben Davies and Jose Cifuentes are close to leaving the club.
Yilmaz is set to seal a permanent move back to Besiktas, Davies will joint Oxford United on loan, while Cifuentes is poised to move to MLS side Toronto FC, also on loan.
‘They are three good guys that needed to play football elsewhere and they’ve got moves they’re happy with and that we’re happy with,’ Martin confirmed.
‘So, I think it certainly helps them and helps us moving forward.’