'I can't answer that' - Russell Martin avoids brutal Rangers question after first league win

Cameron Smith

• 28 Sept 2025 19:00 BST
• 4 min read

News

Russell Martin has admitted that his first league victory as Rangers head coach “means the world” following Max Aarons’ last-minute winner versus Livingston.

Aarons, 25, sealed a 2-1 win deep into stoppage time to earn Rangers their first Scottish Premiership victory of the campaign and lift them up into eighth-place in the standings.

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The Ibrox giants had failed to win any of their opening five league fixtures under Martin’s reign and fans have urged for the 39-year-old to be sacked on multiple occasions over the past few weeks.

Rangers have endured their worst start to a league season for nearly 50 years and they looked set to suffer a sixth winless result before summer signing Aarons netted a 94th minute winner to send the away fans wild.

“Does it mean the world? Yeah, it does,” Martin told BBC Sport (via The Daily Record) after the game.

“Believe it or not this world means the world to all of us that are here. I'm just so happy for the players today.

“I'm just so happy for them, they really stuck at it. The target now is to make sure we do it more consistently.”

Russell Martin dodges Rangers question

Although pressure was highly likely to intensify if Rangers had failed to beat Livingston, Martin was reluctant to suggest that his role at the club would’ve been at risk.

When asked if Aarons had saved his job at Ibrox, Martin said: “I don't know. I haven't felt like that at all. No, I can't answer that question. It's not relevant. He scored and I'm in the job, so it's good.”

He added: “I'm really proud of the players. We deserved to win. The first-half is the best we've been for sure.

“With the football we played and the chances we created we should've scored more goals and the game could've been done. A bit of tension then creeps in, we give away a really poor goal. We lost control of the game early in the second-half and couldn't quite grip it back.

“But they are fighting, working so hard for each other and the coaching staff and I'm proud of them. I think we got what we deserved in the end.

“They are not lacking in spirit. That's been in the building. The last three weeks, they feel so together. I really enjoyed some of that in the first-half and I loved the spirit in the second.”

Rangers travel to SK Sturm Graz in the Europa League on Thursday, before facing Falkirk in the Scottish Premiership next Sunday.

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