Martin confident he retains support from Rangers board despite Europa League loss

Russell Martin believes he still has the support of the Rangers board despite their stuttering start to the season continuing with a 1-0 loss to Genk in their Europa League opener.

Rangers failed to build on a bright start and were given a mountain to climb after Mohamed Diomande was shown a straight red card 41 minutes in.

Jack Butland saw an Oh Hyeon-Gyu penalty on the stroke of half-time, but the former Celtic striker netted the winner 55 minutes in after the hosts' defence was cut open.

Rangers have won just four of their 14 matches across all competitions this season (D5 L5), with this their fewest wins at this stage of a season in their history. Their five losses are also their most defeats at this stage since 1994-95 (lost six of first 14).

Boos rang out at the full-time whistle at Ibrox following the defeat, in which Oh also had a second goal disallowed for offside, but Martin says nothing has changed despite this loss.

"I don't think this game, when we were down to 10 men for so long, changes that [support], Martin said in his media conference. "I feel nothing but support from them.

"We will work, learn from [the loss] but also have a bit of perspective, then get ready to prepare and perform and win on Sunday."

Rangers were strong in the first half, having six shots, two of which were on target, though they only accumulated 0.6 expected goals (xG) despite John Souttar having a header cleared off the line.

Despite piling on some late pressure, Rangers failed to have a shot on Hendrik Van Crombrugge's goal in the second half, though Martin noted he was thrilled by their showing with 10 men.

"The red card changed the game a lot," he added. "I was looking forward to getting to half-time and getting a few key points across.

"I asked them to be really aggressive after the sending off, not just try and defend for 45 minutes. Genk didn't cut us open; we weren't defending relentlessly. I'm frustrated, the red card changed a lot, but I'm proud of the players in the second half.

"The longer the game goes on, if we actually dominate the ball, we create a lot more. We'll get there.

"We had 10 men for a long time. I think Jack [Butland] only had two saves to make in the second half. I thought we had some really good performances."

Rangers conceded 3.4 expected goals (xG) against Genk, with Oh's missed penalty contributing a lot to that, giving away 18 shots, though only four were on target.

Butland has now saved five of the last six penalties he has faced in all competitions (excluding shootouts), including both so far in 2025-26.

His heroics were not enough for Rangers, though, and he lamented their sluggish start to their Europa League campaign.

"It's obviously not the way we wanted to start the competition at all," he said.

"There were some bright moments to start with, but obviously we've gone down to 10, given away some opportunities, and in Europe, playing against teams with 10 men is difficult.

"In saying that, we didn't go under, we didn't fall apart, but not enough good stuff there. Not enough opportunities created, and ultimately, we concede a poor goal in a game where they didn't threaten us all that much or cut us open.

"So it's an opportunity we missed, for sure."