Chris Sutton believes Rangers’ players are operating in a “toxic” environment amid the club’s current struggles, calling head coach Russell Martin position “horrific”.
Martin, appointed in the summer, has won three of his 12 games and Rangers have not won in their past five fixtures.
“I’ve got sympathy for him,” said former Celtic forward Sutton. “I feel sorry for some of the players. I really, really do.
“You just don’t get time in Glasgow. It’s all about winning. It’s turning ugly. It’s a really difficult place to play. The environment to play in, it is toxic.
“The problem that the Rangers hierarchy have… These were the guys who hung their hat on Russell Martin. They keep backing him.
“I don’t think he’s helped himself, he told everybody the players are scared. That’s the Rangers manager telling every other club in Scotland that his players are playing with fear. That’s on him. Why would you do that?”
Sutton, like Martin, is a former Norwich City player and suspects supporters will stop attending Rangers matches.
“Unless he goes on an incredible run, Rangers fans, from what I’m hearing, they’re just not going to rock up and watch the team,” Sutton added on the BBC’s Football Daily podcast. “They won’t fill the stadium. They are so disillusioned.
“This has turned so ugly, so quickly. The start was so important for Russell Martin. He doesn’t have any real allies other than the people who employed him.
“Nobody else at the club wants him to stay. In a short space of time, that’s a horrific position for him to be in.”
