Murty wants winning farewell at Rangers

GLASGOW:

Rangers caretaker manager Graeme Murty has challenged his players to aspire for greatness in their Scottish Cup quarter-final against Hamilton today in what will likely be his last match in charge. The Glasgow giants ended a run of four games without a win on Wednesday when Emerson Hyndman fired in a last-minute winner to seal a 3-2 victory over St Johnstone. It gave Murty his first league win since the former under-20s coach was thrust into the Ibrox hotseat following the departure of Mark Warburton and his managerial team.

Rangers have struggled to adapt to life back in the Scottish Premiership and the Scottish Cup remains their only hope of a trophy this season. Murty was delighted to have finally got a win following two back-to-back defeat but insists he wants more from his players as they attempt to book their place in the last four of the competition. “I feel great, and I feel really good for the players. I’ve just done the debrief and I wish you had seen it as I highlighted some of the great stuff we did. I told them, I thought we were good, and if we want to be great, we need to do these things better,” the caretaker manager said.

“That is the kind of mentality I would prefer. Good is OK, but I prefer to be great and I’d like the fellas to dare to be great as well. So can we enhance our processes? Can we enhance the things that we maybe didn’t do quite so well? Then, take that step from being good to being great. “The way they played [in the win against St Johnstone] and the brightness with the ball was really, really encouraging, and I think it is indicative of the way they have trained and their intensity, and I think the players are in a better place right now.”

Rangers are expected to name a new manager next week with Portuguese coach Pedro Caixinha the favorite to take over. Despite admitting it wasn’t always a pleasurable experience, Murty says his time in charge will boost his career options in future. “In my calmer moments when I make my decision about where I want to go, this experience-as difficult as it’s been at times-will make me a better practitioner wherever I am,” Murty said. “It will make me a better coach, a better man-manager and better able to appreciate the athletes I work with, whatever age they are.”

Celtic will continue their quest for a first domestic treble since 2001 when they take on St Mirren tomorrow. The match at Parkhead against the Championship strugglers will mark Celtic’s first game since the death of former player Tommy Gemmell, who inspired the club to glory in the 1967 European Cup. Gemmell scored Celtic’s equalizer and played a part in Stevie Chalmers’s 84th-minute winner as Celtic came from behind to beat Inter Milan 2-1 in Lisbon in the 1967 final. It made them Britain’s first European champions and saw the team dubbed ‘the Lisbon Lions’. —AFP