Murty to take new approach with kids
GRAEME MURTY insists winning isn’t everything for Rangers at youth level as he looks to nurture the next crop of Ibrox stars.
The 41-year-old was appointed as the Gers’ Head Development Squad coach earlier this month and started work at Auchenhowie on Monday.
Murty replaces Ian Durrant as under-20s’ boss and will be charged with helping promising young players make the transition through to boss Mark Warburton’s first team.
The ex-Reading and Southampton defender will see his new side in action for the first time against St Mirren tonight before he puts the Gers kids through their paces on Thursday.
And Murty is determined to pave the way for a host of budding Light Blues and give them the best possible chance of realising their Ibrox ambitions.
“The main aim is to make sure the players are ready to go into the Rangers first team and we may get one or five or six, but the main aim is the player who gets his opportunity he is ready to go,” he told rangers.co.uk.
“If you win games on the way then good and I know what Rangers FC means to a lot of people, they expect to win and they expect teams to win well and I do — I love winning.
“I am desperate to win at everything, ask my daughter because she hates playing me at any game! But if we can subsume our desire to win for the betterment of the player, it’s about them.
“It’s not about winning 5-0 or 6-0, it’s about the next step and nurturing the players in a safe, challenging way to make sure they’re ready.
“For me it is down to the young player to prove he is ready, to kick the manager’s door down to say you can’t leave me out of the team.
“Once we have people of that mindset doing that then that pathway will be forged.”