Russell Martin believes his Rangers squad will “look different” by the time he takes charge of his first game next month.
Former Ibrox defender Martin kicks off his tenure against Greek side Panathinaikos in the Champions League second qualifying round, with the first leg on 22-23 July.
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“I think the squad will look different,” the head coach, who has yet to make a signing, told Rangers TV.
“We will have some players in by then, so the earlier we can do that, the better, so they become ingrained in what we are trying to build culturally and in terms of performance.
“The players are back in on Monday, that’s the most exciting bit. We will see what they can do, how we are going to have to adapt and tweak to make it really built-in and ready for us, and then the rest will take care of itself.”
Rangers will kick off their Scottish Premiership campaign against Motherwell – led by Martin’s former Norwich City team-mate Jens Berthel Askou – but the Ibrox boss’ main focus for now is on Panathinaikos.
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The Athens side were the highest ranked of the three unseeded teams in the league path of the Champions League draw.
“A lot of people said to me it’s maybe the toughest draw we could have had, but we have to play against and beat good teams if we want to compete in European football,” Martin added.
“It gives us something to work towards and look at them, but the focus is going to be on us and making sure we are ready to compete against anyone by the time the game comes around.”
[BBC]
