LEARNING FROM THE MAESTRO...

Murty glad he is able to call upon ex-boss Smith at Ibrox when he is needing advice

AS they jubilantly made their way home from Easter Road on Wednesday night, Rangers supporters were briefly reminded of how things used to be.

Not so much in the clocking up of a fourth straight league win to register a note of interest in the title race. That was merely a matter of routine for long enough.

But more in the way their underperforming side scraped and snarled their way to three points their play scarcely merited.

For all the display left much to be desired, what is beyond dispute is that character — a trait often conspicuous by its absence around Ibrox of late — was there in abundance.

If it would feel almost sacrilegious for fans of a certain age to draw comparisons between such a performance and the myriad smash-and-grabs Walter Smith presided over throughout two terms in charge, it seems the Ibrox managerial great may have had more to do with the recent upturn in form than was first thought.

‘I got some brilliant advice in the week from Walter Smith,’ explained interim manager Graeme Murty (both below).

‘He was sat in the office holding court because his grandsons were in playing in our community complex.

‘I spent an hour just listening to the maestro talk about football, talk about Rangers, and it is an absolute lesson in itself just listening to the man talk.

‘That, for me, is as good as having someone else to take the workload away.’

Rightfully, the precise details of the conversation will remain between both gentlemen and the four walls. But its contents weren’t intended purely for posterity.

Very much at the outset of his coaching and managerial career, Murty knows experience is the one thing money cannot buy.

He is not in the practice of looking gift horses in the mouth.

‘If you don’t mind, those questions I asked will remain between myself and Walter,’ he added.

‘But from my first spell in charge of the Under-20s, he has been in the office.

‘He is in every other week for the football in the community. He just pops in. He can walk around and do whatever he likes. ‘He is a fixture around the place, so you can go and talk to him and he is very forthcoming. He is not stinting in his advice and that is a measure of the man. He is so open and honest with you that you could probably ask him anything you wanted and he would give you a straight answer. ‘Whenever you work alongside or are in close proximity to a high-level operator, it is incumbent on you to go there with the openmindedness and grateful nature to absorb as much as you can.

‘That is what I try to do throughout my career as a player and a coach, to absorb as many lessons as I can from those people at the top of their game and try and incorporate bits.

‘You can’t incorporate it all. I can’t be Walter Smith, I am not trying to be Walter Smith. But if there is one thing you take from him to enhance your own practice, then you have to do it.’

Their relationship precedes a chance meeting in the corridors of the training centre. Smith rated Murty as a player at Reading to the extent that half of his four Scotland caps came against Bulgaria and Japan in the triumphant 2006 Kirin Cup.

‘I quite enjoyed it apart from the fact he played me at wing-back, which is a position I have always hated,’ smiled Murty.

‘I just ran for 90 minutes and never saw the ball. He seemed to think I could keep on doing that. I thank him for the faith, but not so much for the position.’ Eleven years on, Smith’s faith in Murty’s current line of work remains just as strong. That scrappy victory in Leith was the perfect way to reciprocate. The old fox would doubtless have approved. Imitation remains the sincerest form of flattery. ‘That is heady praise for the players because when you look at what that man achieved in his times here, they can only dream of living up to those standards,’ added Murty. ‘If people are drawing parallels, I think it is premature. It is slightly too much praise than I am happy giving them. But if there are certain attributes or aspects of that, then I think the players can take that on board and move forward. It is not always about pretty football.’ The 2-1 win covered a multitude of sins. Without control of the game for any prolonged period, Murty’s men were forced to live off their nerves and ride their luck.

If they unquestionably got away with one when David Bates moved his hand towards the ball in his penalty area, you had to commend their ruthlessness in front of goal.

‘There were a couple of pleasing things from the game. Number one was obviously the result,’ reflected Murty. ‘The second part was the resilience the players showed collectively.

‘To not give in and not go under and to battle it out particularly pleased the fans.

‘Another part of it is that we were clinical. The first two bits of play we had, we took our chances. We didn’t do that against Hamilton or Dundee.

‘In the last four games I think we have done that and I think that would be the major change in what we’re doing.’