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Rangers boss Martin says he won't resign after Hearts defeat

Russell Martin has said he will not resign despite Ibrox turning toxic towards him in the 2-0 defeat by Hearts which left Rangers without a win in their first five Scottish Premiership fixtures.

There were only nine minutes on the clock when Rangers fans began to chant the name of Nicolas Raskin, the popular Belgium midfielder left out of the squad amid an ongoing dispute with Martin, who suffered abuse from his own supporters all afternoon.

Lawrence Shankland drove the visitors ahead in the 22nd minute and after his 82nd-minute penalty was saved by Jack Butland, the skipper then netted the rebound for Hearts' first win at Ibrox in 11 years to take them top of the table.

Hearts fans and remaining Rangers supporters ended up singing "you're getting sacked in the morning" towards Martin but when asked outright in his postmatch media conference if he would resign, the Gers boss, who, after four draws and a defeat has led the Light Blues to the worst league start in 47 years to leave them 10th in the table, simply said: "No.

"The fans are entitled to their opinion so I can't come out here and criticise that."

Reminded that the fans clearly want him to go, Martin said: "I don't think many of them wanted me here in the first place.

"We have a lot of new guys in there. We have a lot of players trying to feel their way in an environment that's really difficult to feel their way into. Really, really difficult.

"So we just have to make sure they're alright as human beings first and improve their performance. But there's anxiety at the moment.

"The players are not the same team we see in training on Thursday and Friday when they go out and play in this environment right now.

"And that's not a criticism of anyone. But we have to just keep working."

Martin has previously stressed that he has the support of the Ibrox board and asked if it was still the case, the former Southampton boss said: "I don't know. We'll see, won't we? They've been great up until now. All of them. So we'll see."

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Asked how difficult it is to work when the fans are so vociferous, Martin spoke of his players being "scared" and said: "It doesn't affect me personally. Professionally it's difficult because we need the team to play in a certain way that requires certain things.

"And it's really difficult when the atmosphere is how it is. It's aimed towards me, not towards the players."

Derek McInnes guided Hearts to their first win at Ibrox since 2014 to make it 13 points from 15 in the first five league games.

The former Rangers midfielder was quizzed about any empathy he might have for Martin and he replied: "More than a bit, a huge lot. I didn't like that today.

"It's so unfair on a manager, I don't like it at all.

"He is a fine man, he's a fine manager and when results don't always come, at clubs, especially clubs this size, it's more than just the manager for me. That is tough on him."