Furious Russell Martin ‘to drag Jack Butland off’ after horrific Rangers start

Jack Butland will likely be scapegoated by Rangers manager Russell Martin as their Champions League campaign falls to pieces against Club Brugge.

The former Southampton manager’s start to life as Bears boss has been a bumpy one, with his side yet to win a league game this season.

Martin was highly critical of his Rangers’ side after their opening day draw against Motherwell, before they then drew against Dundee FC.

The Champions League has been a saving grace for Martin, as Rangers comfortably dispatched of Panathinaikos and Viktoria Plzen on their way to a meeting with Brugge.

But following a first half where the Gers were absolutely torn to pieces by their Belgian counterparts, Martin must make changes, or else he risks ruining his side’s entire season.

Jack Butland to be hooked after awful first half

Butland has done some serious work repairing his image after a miserable season for Rangers last year.

The former Stoke City goalkeeper has always been prone to a moment of madness, but he has been impressively consistent at the start of this campaign.

That all changed in the third minute, when a mix-up between Butland and Nasser Djiga led to Romeo Vermant being put through on goal, before scoring a cheeky chip.

20′ | Rangers 0-3 Club Brugge | #UCL

Goal for Club Brugge. Brandon Mechele with the finish.

— Rangers Football Club (@RangersFC) August 19, 2025

The 32-year-old was not content with being made to look silly once, as he did it again in the seventh minute for Jorne Spileers second goal to make it 2-0, diving at thin air as the ball trickled past him from the unmarked visitor to his area.

With a third whistling past him from range in the 20th minute to make it 3-0, it would honestly not be a shock to see Martin hook his “shot-stopper” at half time.

Liam Kelly to save the day, and the season

Whilst Neil McCann was doing his best to find an excuse for Butland’s inexcusable errors, Jon Champion interrupted by simply saying on the Amazon commentary (8.07pm, 19 August): “Ibrox is filled with a cacophony of boos.”

Plenty of those would have been for the hapless Englishman.

Martin has an obvious solution, one that was made last season, and that is to bring Liam Kelly in to replace Butland.

The Scotland international was stellar in Rangers’ two-legged defeat to Athletic Club, keeping a clean sheet with a heroic performance in the first leg.

Kelly has proven himself adept at stepping up when his side need him, and with their entire season crumbling before their eyes, the Bears need someone, anyone, capable of stopping Brugges from continuing to run riot.

Rangers absolutely need some command at the back and Butland has evidently failed to provide that at Ibrox, while John Souttar as captain needs to look in the mirror himself, and now desperate times call for desperate measures.

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