Rangers boss Russell Martin must get over himself and understand the Raskin case is open and shut – Hugh Keevins.

Martin needs to get over himself and grasp how the justice system operates in Scottish football.

Russell Martin has succeeded in transporting Rangers fans to two locations at the same time.

In the first instance, he has pushed them to their limits, and they are fed up with him, his attitude, and the job he is doing at Ibrox.

Second, Martin, having stripped the fans of all hope with yesterday’s defeat to Hearts and infuriated by Nico Raskin’s continued rejection, has reduced the fan base to its final resort. That is the hope Celtic provide in rescuing something from the season by getting trapped by implosion while Rangers deal with the aftermath of the explosion.

If you are a Rangers supporter, the final 12 minutes of today’s game at Rugby Park will be far more exciting than the first 12. If the Celtic support stand for the game against Kilmarnock is as empty as it will be when the game begins, it will indicate that the away fans have demonstrated disdain rather than solidarity.

A clear indicator that the team assembled under limited circumstances, diminished accountability, and UEFA-imposed constraints – or whatever excuse the Celtic board is selling this weekend – has failed on the pitch.

And confirmed the assumption that Celtic’s season is on an irreversible downward spiral. This week, the Scottish Government will strive to end the legal quirk known as the Not Proven verdict. However, the numerous Celtic supporter groups have beaten them to it.

They have established a jury and have already discarded Not Proven in favour of returning a guilty finding on individuals responsible for the ownership and operation of their club. A unanimous decision.

Rangers fans are currently serving a two-year suspended sentence from UEFA for an apyrotechnic show during a disastrous 6-0 defeat to Club Brugge in the Champions League play-off encounter in Belgium.

It’s unclear why they had to fire flares in Belgium on their route to a 9-1 aggregate defeat, but they, like the head coach, are aware that a decision is pending.

That is why Martin must get over himself and learn how the legal system works in Scottish football. Martin is on trial, and everything he says could be used as evidence against him later.

For example, he stated that Nico Raskin remains an outcast from the first squad because he has a “duty to win the trust of his team-mates”.

Rangers manager Russell Martin hasn’t won a league game. This is not Southampton, with yachts in a marina. If your method of leading the team is deemed poor, they will use shipyard rivets to pin you to a wall.

It’s best not to inform those sitting in judgement of you, for example, that you didn’t hear them sing Raskin’s name yesterday or during the previous Old Firm game.

The game was too bad to be the source of deafening crowd noise. Only the hard of hearing could have missed the audience supporting a player over the man who had left him off the team.

Raskin is a player they can rely on during times of uncertainty because he embodies all of the qualities they seek, primary among which are combativeness paired with the arrogant swagger of a supremely confident performance.

If he also happens to be a huge pain in the backside, all we can say is that he isn’t the first, and certainly won’t be the last, to fall into that category.

In this game, pragmatism always wins out over favouritism. You don’t have to like them to pick them as long as they’re doing their business outside in the park. Raskin’s personal faults appear to have been noted by the Ibrox leadership group.

Raskin is a player they can rely on during times of uncertainty because he embodies all of the qualities they seek, primary among which are combativeness paired with the arrogant swagger of a supremely confident performance.

If he also happens to be a huge pain in the backside, all we can say is that he isn’t the first, and certainly won’t be the last, to fall into that category.

In this game, pragmatism always wins out over favouritism. You don’t have to like them to pick them as long as they’re doing their business outside in the park.

Raskin’s personal faults appear to have been noted by the Ibrox leadership group.

Read more on Straightwinfortoday.com