'Don't have the final say' - Rangers fans earn apology from ex-player over failed forward January bid

Swansea City boss Russell Martin revealed he apologised to Rangers fans over social media for playing poorly during his time at Ibrox and the failed bid to land Morgan Whittaker.

Michael Beale had been keen to add to his attacking options and had set his sights on the Swans forward only for the club to be thwarted in their advances. Martin explained the reasoning behind the failed bid as he admitted he was “disappointed” with the Championship side's transfer business.

Whittaker had been on loan in League One for the first half of the season, enjoying a fruitful time with Plymouth Argyle, before being recalled while there was also interest in the 22-year-old from English teams.

"Morgan's back,” Martin, who had a loan spell with Rangers in 2018, said. “The whole thing about Morgan, I've got a brilliant relationship with him. I hope that’ll show in the next three months. He understood why I wanted him to go out on loan and play football. The amount of work Josh [Marsh, head of football operations] did to stay in contact with him. "He’s come back and not been frustrated with me, I didn't make the decision to call him back. Again, it’s not in my control. He’ll be in the squad tomorrow (against Birmingham).

"I’ve had Rangers fans message me on LinkedIn saying let him go. I apologised to them saying 'sorry I was crap at your club but it’s not my decision'. We don’t have the final say here. Jason [Levien, owner] alluded to it yesterday, that’s with him. All of the hours that get put in, then we have a bit of ambiguity."