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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Sport
Barry Glendenning

Rangers and a slapstick fiasco that gave Martin a furious dose of fatal realism

Russell Martin
Russell Martin gets busy in his technical area as he tries to sort out the mess against Club Brugge. Photograph: Steve Welsh/PA

RAN-GRRRS

Football Daily would never publicly admit that our life is so meaningless, empty and utterly devoid of purpose that we occasionally spend our leisure time perusing the fan forums of random clubs with whom we have no affiliation just to pass the time. No, that would be embarrassing so it was purely in the interests of diligent professional research that we spent the buildup to one of last night’s Bigger Cup qualifiers scrutinising the long pre-match thread on a forum devoted to one fitba club in particular, all the better to gauge the mood among Rangers fans before their first leg against Club Brugge. Before a ball had been kicked, it was one of cautious optimism that was quickly replaced by fatal realism and no end of radge-induced McEffing and McJeffing a mere three minutes after kick-off. That’s how long it took for the hesitant-to-the-point-of-slumbering Rangers duo Nasser Djiga and Jack Butland to contrive to concede a goal so slapstick (but beautifully finished) that it would be worth resurrecting A Question of Sport for one final episode of What Happened Next?

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