How Martin's Rangers reign fell apart in 123 days

Russell Martin started his Rangers reign by telling doubters in the Ibrox support he could prove them wrong.

Just 123 turbulent and trying days later, it is all over.

The 39-year-old leaves his post as head coach after being humiliated in Champions League qualifying, with only win win in the Scottish Premiership and a current league placing of eighth.

The former Rangers and Scotland defender won just five of his 17 games in charge, with his final run out being a 1-1 draw with Falkirk on Sunday.

Here, BBC Scotland looks at how Martin's tenure fell apart in the space of just four months.

Rangers fans were in a state of euphoria following the confirmation of a takeover from a US-based consortium in May.

After appointing sporting director Kevin Thelwell and technical director Dan Purdy, next on the new ownership's to-do list was hiring a new head coach.

Large sections of the support were underwhelmed when it was revealed in June that Martin was the man to fill that role.

The former MK Dons and Swansea City boss had been sacked by Southampton six months prior after an arduous spell in the Premier League.

Martin aimed to reassure the doubters at his unveiling, saying: "I have a lot to prove. But my whole career has been based on proving people wrong."

A huge turnover of the playing squad followed, but Martin was able to get off to a winning start in the home leg of their Champions League second-round qualifier against 10-man Panathinaikos.

Rangers looked totally unconvincing for large spells, despite the 2-0 victory, and it was a similar story in the away leg in Greece as Martin's men gave away chance after chance.

But a 1-1 draw in Athens secured progression, winning 3-1 on aggregate, with attention then turning to domestic action for their Scottish Premiership opener at Motherwell.

At Fir Park in their first league outing, there were no signs of improvement from Rangers.

They were lucky to leave Lanarkshire with a point in a thrilling 1-1 draw, but the real drama came after the game when Martin publicly unloaded on his team.

The head coach lambasted his players' mentality, egos and effort in an extraordinary post-match reaction.

Eyebrows were then raised when captain James Tavernier and influential midfielder Nicolas Raskin were dropped for the next match, an impressive 3-0 win over Viktoria Plzen in the first leg of their Champions third-round qualifier.

Both players would feature again under Martin, with Tavernier coming off the bench to recue a point with a late penalty for 10-man Rangers against Dundee in the next league match.

But a situation would rumble on with Belgium international Raskin, who was left out of the squad for this month's goalless draw with Celtic and the following defeat to Hearts.

Raskin was not the only player Martin seemed to have issues with.

Following another underwhelming Premiership draw at St Mirren, the former Swansea boss said striker Hamza Igamane claimed he was injured and refused to come off the bench in Paisley.

That came just days after a calamitous opening 20 minutes resulted in Rangers losing 3-1 at home to Club Brugge in the final stage Champions League qualifying.

Rangers had progressed to the play-off round after seeing off Plzen, but a 4-2 aggregate win papered over big cracks in Martin's team, who faced 27 shots in their 2-1 second-leg defeat to the Czech side.

Martin's men also conceded twice at home to third-tier Alloa Athletic in a 4-2 Premier Sports Cup victory before the first-leg defeat to Brugge.

But 3-1 loss to the Belgian club at Ibrox was nothing in comparison to what followed in the away leg.

Ten-man Rangers were five down by the break, going on to lose by six on the night - a record-equalling European loss - and 9-1 on aggregate.

Igamane, who scored 16 goals last term, would leave for Lille two days later.

With fan fury intensifying in the aftermath of an embarrassing Champions League play-off exit, Martin vowed to fight on as Rangers boss.

And despite going a fourth straight league game without a win, a goalless draw with Old Firm rivals Celtic provided the head coach with crumbs of hope.

However, it proved to be a false dawn.

In their next game, high-flying Hearts romped to a 2-0 victory at a stormy Ibrox, with clouds conjured so thick that even a perfunctory League Cup quarter-final win over Hibs could not stop the rumbles of discontent amid more fan protests.

Defeat to a bang average Genk at home in the Europa League saw Martin become increasingly rattled.

By this point, a chunk of fans had made their mind up, even if the Rangers hierarchy had not. A 90th-minute winner away to newly promoted Livingston last Sunday was met with hostility.

So to was a defeat away to Sturm Graz midweek, with footage on social media of fans confronting the club's bosses about their plight painting a grim picture.

By the time Falkirk's Henry Cartwright equalised on Sunday, there was no way back. Or forward, in the case of the Rangers team bus that was barricaded in post match.

When it eventually slithered out and on the road to Glasgow, Martin was not on it. Instead, the Rangers head coach was smuggled out in the back of a car, never to be seen in his post again.