By John Greechan

Copyright scotsman

How deep is the crisis? Not a Bee Gees B-side. Just a question being asked by Hibs fans heading to Ibrox with hearts full of hope this weekend. From the outside looking in, Rangers under Russell Martin are trapped in an abysmal descent that can only end in one of two ways. Either they drag themselves up from the depths with a Premier Sports Cup quarter-final win over a Hibs side who have taken such delight in torturing the Light Blues … or everything falls apart. With fans revolting and former players lining up to lament the Glasgow club’s lack of character, bottle, tactical nous and basic understanding of the situation, a sporting organisation seemingly addicted to psychodrama certainly cannot claim to be in rude health. All music to the ears of travelling fans, who will already be soaking in the mockery of Martin’s team, with their Loch Lomond swims and inability to bag a win. But how much of the hype around this game is based on reality, and how much is just wishful thinking? The bookies still make Rangers favourites, remember. So why should Hibs hold out such high hopes? A body calling themselves the Rangers Fan Advisory Board – not to be confused with the Advisory Board of Rangers Fans – met with club CEO Patrick Stewart and sporting director Kevin Thelwell, among other club officials this week. Reports from the supporters themselves described conversations as “full and frank.” Which is usually a euphemism for banging tables and red-faced roaring. These fans have promised to release full minutes of a meeting that ran to over two hours. If you really don’t want to read every cough and splutter, just consider the following summation from RFAB: “The club continues to back the manager – a stance we forcibly challenged.” Does it matter? Clubs across the world pay lip service to the importance of supporters, but very few base major personnel decisions on demands from the moderately expensive seats. That’s not how the game works. The issue becomes truly serious, of course, when fans simply switch off, turn off and stop turning up. As things stand, the Rangers diehards seem content to keep airing their grievances in public, with another supporters group – the People’s Front of Govan, maybe? – calling for a major demonstration against both Martin AND Stewart at the famous main door of Ibrox ahead of Saturday’s contest. Any kind of positive start by Hibs has the potential to bring all of that seething discontent tumbling down from the stands to engulf the Rangers players. Many of whom look as if they’re not coping terribly well with the current situation … If it’s been open season on former Southampton manager Martin, the Rangers squad haven’t escaped criticism. Indeed, some have been questioning whether this group of players even deserve to pull on the jersey. Gordon Smith, a former Rangers player and one-time Ibrox director of football, told The Scottish Sun yesterday: “If you’re nervous playing for Rangers, you shouldn’t be there. The whole point is you’ve got to be up for it and think: ‘This is where I should be playing’. Although some results might go against you, you have to bounce back. “But I’m not sure about this group. One reason they’re getting more abuse is it’s been concurrent. This isn’t coming off the back of a good season. This has been going on and on for years. “When I signed for Rangers, the first thing Jock Wallace said was: ‘You need two things to play for this team, son — ability and character’. It’s true, particularly the character to deal with things if it’s not going well and to try and turn things around.” Smith was part of the Rangers team who started season 1978-79 with the first opening run of results in club history, going six league games without a victory. That side turned things around. He’s not sure the current group have the grit to do the same. “Ability and character did play a big part 47 years ago,” he said, adding: “We recovered from that bad start because we had the talent and the right types. “Unlike now, we had players who knew what it was all about to play for Rangers and who’d been successful at Rangers. We’d had years of playing together, digging in for each other and we had strong characters.” There have been official briefings suggesting that Rangers are determined to stick with Martin. For now, anyway. Chairman Andrew Cavenagh is flying in for this weekend’s game. Which could be read in one of two ways. Either he’s there to show his support. Or the American co-owner feels that he’ll need to be on site to do the necessary, should Martin’s position become untenable. GET THE LATEST HIBS NEWS DIRECTLY TO YOUR EMAIL INBOX WITH OUR FREE NEWSLETTER SERVICE None of the above directly affects Hibs, of course. They’ve got a job to do, a game to win, a semi-final at Hampden to pursue for their own reasons. Does the chaos at Ibrox make their task any easier? There’s always the danger of a siege mentality galvanising the Govan crowd. Unless/until Gray’s men poke the bears with an up-tempo start that piles even more pressure on a home side fighting (sort of) to save their season … Your next Hibs read: Here’s how David Gray’s team can pick Rangers apart