Russell Martin told frustrated Rangers fans that there is “no quick fix” after his side dropped another two points in the William Hill Premiership title race with a 1-1 home draw against Dundee.
The Gers boss was unhappy following the 1-1 draw in their league opener at Motherwell last week and his side responded with a 3-0 win over Viktoria Plzen in the first leg of their Champions League qualifier on Tuesday night.
However, the anxiety levels among the fans returned against Steven Pressley’s side, who took the lead in the 51st minute through a Ryan Astley header.
Gers defender Nasser Djiga was sent off for a last-man challenge on Finlay Robertson but as the game moved into added time Rangers captain James Tavernier, who came off the bench, levelled from the spot, after Drey Wright pulled down Djeidi Gassama.
To add to the consternation amid the Light Blues support, Cyriel Dessers had the ball in the net in the seventh minute of added time only to be ruled offside.
Martin said: “Every club I have been at, it’s a bit of pain and when you get through that pain, it’s so worth it. I don’t think I expected anything less coming here, it’s not going to be a quick fix.
“This club has not had success for a long, long time. I’ve been asked about the supporters’ reaction and I just don’t have a problem because I understand it.
“We are at a point now at this club where something needed to change.
“The ownership has changed, there’s a new coaching staff, there’s new players, there’s hopefully a new way of behaving in the training ground – properly, every single day, regarding standards and what’s expected at this football club. So it’s not a quick fix and this is not me coming out and making excuses.
“I think we change the manager from year to year and nothing really changes.
“So now it’s about really changing the culture and the feel of the club day in and day out. That will end up in a good outcome. Good process, good people, will always end up in a good outcome. But maybe not so quickly as everyone wants.”
Martin admitted he was surprised at the boos which rang round the stadium when he brought on Kieran Dowell, along with Nicolas Raskin, to replace Lyall Cameron and Mohamed Diomande.
He said: “Yeah, that surprised me. I’m not on any social media or anything like that, so I don’t really know what the narrative is around Kieran.
“I don’t think it helps him, I don’t think it helps the rest of the guys. That’s how I feel about it really.
“I’m disappointed for Kieran, because what we’ve seen at the training ground and I speak to everyone there, he’s really valued as a person and a character. And he’s played out of position for us for three games, so today he actually played a bit more in his position, played forward, I thought he was good with the ball, he ran really hard for the team.”
If Rangers get through their Euro tie against Plzen they will postpone the league match against St Mirren on August 24 to prepare for the play-off tie which means Djiga will miss the Old Firm game against Celtic at Ibrox the following week.
Dundee boss Steven Pressley “could have cried” for his players after coming so close to an historic win.
He said: “I went on record all week talking about the perfect performance, the club haven’t picked up a point here since 2001.
“So we needed an incredible performance, we needed luck, and I think the players delivered that, they were exceptional.
“I said to them in the dressing room I could have cried for them at the end.
“They left every last ounce out on the pitch, they showed the courage that I spoke about, so, of course, exceptionally proud.
“But we’re under no illusions, there’s a lot, a lot of hard work ahead of us, one point in this league gets you relegated, so there’s so much hard work ahead.”
