IT’S ALL ABOVE BOARD
Murty hits back at Boyd over transfer criticism
GRAEME MURTY has hit back at Kris Boyd’s fierce criticism of Rangers’ business dealings by stating the Ibrox club have never set out to unsettle a player.
Murty returned fire on the ex-Rangers striker who claimed his old club weren’t backing up initial inquiries with credible offers.
Responding to Boyd’s accusation that there was a list of players Rangers had unsettled, the Ibrox boss claimed his club’s behaviour was no different from any other.
‘Kris is entitled to his opinion,’ Murty said. ‘As far as I’m concerned we have made offers for players, and clubs are well within their rights to turn those bids down. Our business has been above board and transparent. If he thinks our bids are too low, that’s Kris’ opinion.’
Asked if Rangers were out of step with others in the way they were trying to recruit, Murty replied: ‘Not at all. You make a bid as to your perceived value of the player. The other club may
have a different value. If that’s the case, we either renegotiate and come to an agreement or we walk away. There’s no bitterness, no anger. It’s just business and the way it has always been done in football.’ On Boyd’s accusation of deliberately unsettling players, Murty said: ‘I don’t think there is any point answering that, because it’s just how business is done. ‘We didn’t go to the player (Kilmarnock’s Jordan Jones), we went to the other club in the correct manner and offered a value for the player. They turned it down. Fair enough, we move on. ‘Every club has an obligation to be prudent with their finances. We have to make sure the safety of the club is protected. We are doing that in a correct manner. ‘We are making sure everything we do is for the future of the football club, to move us forward.’ Murty remains hopeful of making Hamilton’s Greg Docherty his fifth signing of the window.
Sportsmail understands, however, that despite further dialogue between the clubs in the past 48 hours, Rangers have yet to return with a second bid. Docherty isn’t part of the Accies squad to face Motherwell today but only because of an ankle injury. Three English clubs, one from the Premier League and two Championship sides, were due to watch Docherty at Fir Park but will now wait until he faces Hearts on Wednesday. Murty, who has already brought in Jamie Murphy, Sean Goss, Jason Cummings and Russell Martin on loan, hopes Docherty will be a Rangers player by then but his club will need to come close to matching Accies’ £700,000 valuation. Rangers missed out on Steven Naismith, with the Norwich forward opting to join Hearts despite holding discussions with Murty. ‘I talked to Steven but we were concentrating on the guys we have brought in,’ he said. ‘Well done to Hearts but I’m going to talk about the guys we’ve got. ‘Whatever has gone on between Steven and Hearts or between Steven and Rangers is our business.’ Murty, who denied Leeds had joined Preston in bidding for Josh Windass, takes a depleted squad to Fraserburgh tomorrow. Ross McCrorie, Ryan Jack and Bruno Alves, who is a reported transfer target for Serie A strugglers Benevento, join long-term concerns Kenny Miller, Graham Dorrans, Jordan Rossiter and Lee Wallace on the sidelines. Murty is awaiting the result of a scan on McCrorie’s foot, with skipper Wallace having gone under the knife this week. ‘Lee has had a bilateral hernia operation but he is in a good state as he knew there was something niggling away and he’s had it repaired,’ said Murty. ‘He’s happy with how he is feeling and hopefully he won’t be too much longer.’