By Andrew Newport
The Gallagher brothers have been winding back the years down in Cardiff this weekend. As for Rangers ’ prospects of success in the year ahead, it’s very much a case of Definitely Maybe. Liam and Noel have been wowing fans after kicking off their Oasis reunion tour. Meanwhile at Ibrox, Russell Martin was giving the Light Blue legions their first look at his new Masterplan for Gers as they hosted Belgian Cup winners Club Brugge. It certainly looked like it needed a bit more work during a first half that saw Gers make a right Digsy’s Dinner of it as they allowed the visitors to take the lead with two quick-fire goals from Hugo Vetlesen and Ludovit Reis. The punters were looking back with anger on that first 45 minutes as they booed the team off. But they were ready to Roll with It by full-time as Mohamed Diomande and youngster Findlay Curtis capped off a far brighter second half display to claim a decent draw. There was a new manager in the dugout but you’d hardly have known it as Martin took up his perch on the touchline. There was no welcome message or round of applause for the man who has just been named the club’s fourth boss in as many years. The Gers faithful weren’t exactly bowled over with enthusiasm when the former Southampton gaffer was announced so it was hardly surprising to see him receive a distinctly understated reception. Understandably, the fans are waiting for signs of life in this new-look side before getting too excited. But it’s clear the new boss has some fine tuning to do on Russball before he’ll have totally won over the punters. The intent to press high was clear from the off as Robin Propper pushed his backline up to the half-way line. But you could see why the Dutchman – linked with a return to former club FC Twente – and centre-back partner Leon King aren’t expected to feature this season as they repeatedly got themselves in a muddle early on. Martin will hope to drill into his possession game when he takes his side south to St George’s Park on Tuesday for a summer camp. But in the meantime, Brugge were quick to exploit the disjointed Ibrox ranks, taking the lead after nine minutes when Vetlesen fired home at the second attempt from Hugo Vermant’s cut-back. Liam Kelly will feel he should have done better with the first of those efforts but there was simply no stopping the second four minutes later as Hans Vanaken’s deflected cross dropped to Reis 20 yards out, with Reis lashing home with an outrageous volley. Brugge almost had a third when Christos Tziolis rattled the far post afters skinning King but Rangers looked a far more organised unit as Martin introduced a raft of his big names at the break. It took Diomande just six minutes to pull one back as he slotted home from Oscar Cortes’ pass. Martin made more changes that took some of the zip out of proceedings but there was a finally flourish as Nedim Bajrami played in kid Curtis to level up a minute from time. The 29,500 fans who turned out for Rangers first public workout of the summer came hoping to see some of Martin’s five new recruits – but had to make do with just one in the starting line-up. Bournemouth loanee Max Aarons was the sole newcomer that kicked off, with £2.5m signing from Peterborough Manny Fernandez a second-half sub. Aarons has taken over Ridvan Yilmaz’s No3 jersey – the Turk looks to be wearing 33 this term – but it remains to be seen if he’ll be taking James Tavernier’s place on the right-hand side of the Light Blues’ backline. The fact that both Brugge’s two opening goals came down his side will certainly give the skipper hope that he can cling to his slot as enters his 10th season at Ibrox. Or perhaps Martin might play the two together. That was an option he looked it in the second half as Tavernier replaced Propper in central defence and it undoubtedly gave the Light Blues a more secure look as he hooked up with man-mountain Fernandez. Thelo Aasgard, signed from Luton in a the £3.5million deal on Saturday, joined his new team-mates for the warm up before stepping out at half-time along with fellow new recruits Joe Rothwell and Lyle Cameron to greet the new fans. With just a fortnight to go until that crucial Champions League qualifier with Panathinaikos, Martin will need to get all three up to speed and integrated into his team asap. Liam Kelly finished last season as Gers’ No1 under Barry Ferguson and he was handed the first opportunity to impress Russell Martin as this season’s prep got underway. But with his a patchwork back four in front of him, the Scotland squad keeper was left badly exposed. He thought he’d averted the early danger as he parried Vetlesen’s early effort but by sending it straight back into traffic, all he did was give the Norwegian a second go that he duly took. Martin could have had both Kelly and Jack Butland in the sticks as Reis lined up his volley four minutes later and they’d still have struggled to keep out the Dutchman’s sweet strike. As for Butland, he would have been just grateful to get through his second-half runout without making a repeat of the howlers that blighted his campaign last season. Rangers were forced to pay an eye-watering £4.5m to finalise Oscar Cortes’ move from Lens to Ibrox. It remains a huge sum for a player who has managed a mere 14 appearances during an injury-hit 18 month loan stint in Glasgow – with no guarantees he’ll ever repay it. The Colombian looked eager to prove his doubters wrong as he put himself about in the opening stages. But slack pass after slack pass did nothing to convince the doubters he was worth the huge transfer fee. But he did provide some value for money after the break with a slick pass to Diomande as the Ivory Coast star pulled one back. Rangers still have plenty of business to do this summer when it comes to new arrivals – but they could certainly do with clearing the decks. Martin named a 22-man squad, with key men like John Souttar, Cyriel Dessers, Hamza Igamane and the new recruits still to return. Dessers and Igamane have been linked moves away from Glasgow but the Ibrox boss and sporting director Kevin Thelwell will be more concerned about getting shot of the deadwood clogging up the dressing room. Propper and King did nothing to dispel the doubts over their long-term futures. The likes of Ben Davies, Jose Cifuentes and Rabbi Matondo were nowhere to be seen at Ibrox but will most certainly still be commanding hefty wage packets that can certainly be better spent.