MURTY PLEADS FOR PATIENCE
THE SHOWDOWN PART 1 Long wait for manager worth it if we get right man, insists caretaker IT’S 2-2 WITH EVERYTHING TO PLAY FOR
ANGER over a fiveweek search for Pedro Caixinha’s replacement will guarantee a grilling for the Rangers directors at tomorrow’s shareholders’ annual general meeting.
Yet Graeme Murty defended the delay yesterday by insisting another bad managerial appointment would destroy any hope of halting Celtic’s march to ten-in-a-row.
Making the right appointment, said the interim manager, is more important than making a quick appointment.
‘The last thing we want is for the other guys across town to get further away from us,’ declared Murty in a reference to Celtic’s domestic dominance.
‘We want to close the gap. We don’t want that gap to get bigger.’
Three years and millions of pounds have already been wasted on underperforming managers and mediocre players. Amidst growing shareholder concern over the standard of executive decision-making in recent times, directors will be held to account just hours after the first of two games against Aberdeen.
Before the accusations start to fly, however, former Scotland defender Murty pointed out: ‘This is the key signing for the next three years at the football club.
‘If it takes a couple of weeks more than the fans would like to make sure we move forward, then I would ask them for a bit of understanding.
‘I know people want things sorted out, I know they want a resolution now, but the correct resolution would be better for the football club. Not necessarily for myself, but better for the football club than a hasty one.’
If anyone should crave a swift appointment, it’s Murty. A haunted figure after last Friday night’s defeat to Dundee at Dens Park, the Under-20s coach branded the loss ‘unacceptable’. Asked if another five weeks in charge would be worth it to get the right man, he took refuge in black humour.
‘What have you said? Five weeks? I’m going bald as it is...
‘It will be what it will be. Where do we want to get this football club to?
‘I spoke before about where we need to be, how we need to be at the top table of Scottish football.
‘We want to actually get into European football regularly.
‘If we get the next five years right, I said that this club is a massive club, an epic name.
‘We want to get it back to where it deserves to be, where we want it to be. If we get that appointment wrong we risk jeopardising that future.’
Murty holds daily discussions with director of football Mark Allen. Crestfallen by successive defeats to Hamilton and Dundee, the caretaker boss was at least given further reassurances about his own position from higher up the food chain.
‘I had a phone call from Mr King and a phone call from Stewart (Robertson, managing director) after the game at Dundee,’ revealed Murty.
‘We had a good chat and I have to say it made me feel better about my own position and the work I am doing.
‘But still I understand the frustrations and they were frustrated as well, but I won’t speak for them. I just appreciated the phone calls and the conversations we had.
‘The process is ongoing. Things are happening — they are just not there yet. That’s the indication I had.’
AGMs are rarely as stormy or unruly as people expect. Yet defeat at Ibrox tonight to an Aberdeen side unbeaten away from home in the Premiership this season would unquestionably ramp up the rhetoric from the floor of the Clyde Auditorium.
‘The AGM will be the AGM,’ shrugged Murty. ‘We can have a much better AGM if we win.
‘I’m not going to try and secondguess anything that will go on in the AGM or try to curry favour with anyone beforehand.
‘I haven’t been told [if I’ll be there]. I am an employee of Rangers. If they want me there, I’ll be there.
‘I’ve been left to get on with getting ready for this game.’
The 2016 Global Sports Salaries Survey conducted by website Sporting Intelligence showed that Rangers players earned more than double what their Aberdeen counterparts might hope to earn.
With the signings of Bruno Alves and Carlos Pena, it’s likely the gap has increased further in the months since.
Rangers, then, are a team under pressure. Unpredictable and flaky, the club’s directors and management would rather the team who beat Hearts at Murrayfield turned up tonight and not the side who couldn’t hit a barn door against Hamilton and Dundee.
‘I see two different sides to the team,’ Murty acknowledged. ‘You go to Murrayfield for a first game under a new manager and go behind to an unbelievable free-kick.
‘Then you show real good character to come back. Fantastic. We know we’re capable of it.
‘Last two ga mes, we get back into it and we don’t quite execute.
‘I’ve seen the team capable of both. What team turns up will be down to the players’ mindset, their ability and their belief in each other.
‘If they harness that energy, no matter what anyone throws at them, they can stand up if they continue with the mindset.
‘If they don’t, we make it difficult for ourselves.’
Murty’s anger post-Dundee was matched only by the ire of the travelling support.
The final whistle at Dens Park heralded ugly scenes as fans made their feelings known to players heading for the visiting dressing room. There was visceral anger in the Tayside air.
‘You have to be big enough to take it,’ said the interim manager.
‘We all love getting plaudits, we got nice stuff at Celtic Park, nice stuff at Murrayfield, loads of pats on the back.
‘So if you are going to take those, you have to be big enough to take some stick when it comes your way. If you can’t take it on the chin, you might not be here for very long.
‘I don’t blame anyone. It’s human nature. It’s just raw emotion and you can’t judge anyone for their emotional state because you can’t control your emotions generally.
‘We were feeling the same, but we have to make sure we move past that, stop it being destructive and translate that into a performance.
‘I said to the players we need to come together as a team and lift the team.
‘Give them something to cheer about rather than shout about.’