By Mark Atkinson

Copyright scotsman

Ability-wise, there is no doubt that this underperforming Rangers team has some very talented players at its disposal. Littered with internationalists such as Thelo Aasgaard, who netted four goals for Norway earlier this month, and exciting youngsters such as Djeidi Gassama and Mikey Moore, on paper Rangers have brought in players this summer whose pedigrees suggest they have more than enough talent to thrive in Scottish game. Rangers’ current position in the Premiership after six rounds of fixtures is a lowly eighth place. One win so far, which was procured unconvincingly away at Livingston in stoppage time last weekend. Such a moment should galvanise a fanbase but seconds after Max Aarons scored the winner, the Home of the Set Fare Arena burst into a chorus against the club’s head coach Russell Martin. The 39-year-old – only appointed in June by Rangers’ new American owners – is on a very sticky wicket. While chairman Andrew Cavenagh continues to back him, the supporters are signing “Martin, get to ****”. It is a vitriolic environment not just for the manager, but also for his players – many of whom have never experienced anything like the white-hot heat of playing for a club of such stature and demand. Kevin Thomson knows all about the expectation level. He joined Rangers in 2007 from Hibs and played at Ibrox for three seasons. He signed by one of Ibrox’s most esteemed sons in Walter Smith and played alongside the tenacious Barry Ferguson in midfield. He won trophies and reached the UEFA Cup final. He was also able to rise to the mental levels required in Govan. So far, Martin and the vast majority of his new signings have not displayed such fortitude. The head coach’s previous jobs were at MK Dons, Swansea City and Southampton – tea parties compared to the goldfish bowl of Glasgow. Rangers made 13 signings over the summer but who out of Max Aarons, Nasser Djiga, Derek Cornelius, Emmanuel Fernandez, Jayden Meghoma, Joe Rothwell, Lyall Cameron, Aasgaard, Gassama, Moore, Oliver Antman, Bojan Miovski and Youssef Chermiti have truly played under searing pressure? Maybe Cornelius, who spent last season at French club Marseille and have very demanding fans. Aarons admitted after scoring the winner against Livi that playing for Rangers is “different”. And Thomson believes the root cause of Rangers’ current issues lies in the mind rather than in the feet. “I don’t think it matters where you come from, it’s whether you can handle the heat,” Thomson said. “It’s the one thing you can’t tell from recruitment. “I wasn’t the same person leaving Rangers at 25 or 26 as I was when I first signed there. We’d had a young, vibrant group at Hibs and I really believed in myself, but then you bump into Barry Ferguson who was relentless. He’d look at you as if to say ‘why is he on the same pitch as me’ and you either shrunk or you stood up and got better. “We had Sandy Jardine, John Greig around the club, Walter Smith, Ally McCoist, Ian Durrant and Jimmy Bell in the dressing-room. So you’re looking around thinking ‘wow’ but you also have to rise to the occasion. But if you don’t have that mentality in the changing room it’s very difficult. “Loads of big hitters have come into the environment up here and struggled. That’s the one bit you can’t recruit – can you handle the heat and the pressure? You can’t sign players who just want to come up here and stroll around.” Thomson accepts that teams right now relish facing Rangers. “Unfortunately at the moment, I look at this Rangers team and think the fear factor isn’t there,” continued the 40-year-old. “That gives the opposition a greater hand than they should have. It’s a huge thing and it’s horrible. “I can’t think of being a Rangers player and going to any ground or any game – maybe apart from the Champions League – and thinking anything other than being the better team and winning. That’s one of the things I learned from Walter Smith – walk on the pitch thinking you’re the best player. “It doesn’t matter if you’re not the best player, you have to think you are. And if you’re going into games not thinking like that as a Rangers player you’re almost beaten before you start because the opposition are so determined to turn you over. “Look at Manchester United because it’s similar. You hear their old players talk about how they won games in the tunnel and I genuinely felt the same at Rangers. But it’s not the same right now. “Games would be 12.30 on a Saturday, you’d be staying in the hotel, eating chicken and pasta at half-nine in the morning. You’ve had a sticky throat, a horrible feeling and it’s hard because you know the team you’re playing wants so much to beat you. But you have to find a way and I think at the moment if I was Livingston or Hearts going to Ibrox, you do fancy it, of course you would. “It’s totally different at the Old Firm because everyone wants to beat you and to see you fail. Every team you play is desperate to beat you, it’s like a cup final. You go to Aberdeen as a Rangers player or St Mirren as a Rangers player it’s like ‘wow’ because everyone hates you and wants to beat you. So you have to deal with that. “When you’re at Southampton, MK Dons, Swansea you don’t go to every town having everyone desperate to beat you. That’s just not the way it is. Russell will have felt that as a Rangers player but as the manager with the expectation of the club on his shoulders, it’s even greater. “He’s signed his own players so you can’t get away with saying you’ve inherited other players and they’re not quite doing what he wants them to do. It’s up to him to put the style of play in and win games. Thomson still holds deep affection for Rangers and is desperate for Martin to turn the tide. “When you see the manager suffering you feel for them because it’s hard,” he added. “You have to do pre-match and post-match media every week and when you’re under pressure every word you say is being scrutinised. “You can come out and say it wasn’t very good but I’m happy and people think you’re happy sitting down at the bottom of the league. So at times it must feel like you can’t win and I feel for him. “But it comes with the territory, you’re the manager of Rangers – a big job with a big salary. Unfortunately you have to deal with the pressure involved in it. I think Russell probably isn’t enjoying it – but if you can get to the other side it will stand him in brilliant stead.” That last part remains to be seen.