Murty learning the hard way
Standing-in is always a thankless task, but the under-20 coach is grateful for the experience, hears Graeme Macpherson
ACOMBINATION of disappointment and relief will likely wash over Graeme Murty when word reaches him that his services as Rangers’ interim manager are no longer required. Holding the fort is always a thankless task, especially when there is little chance of the promotion becoming permanent, and Murty may find succour at returning to his role in charge of the under-20s.
That is not to say he does not envy Pedro Caixinha and the job that awaits him. Despite the myriad challenges facing Rangers as they try to rebuild once again following Mark Warburton’s departure, Murty believes it remains a highly desirable post. Celtic will always be held up as the unobtainable benchmark, but he thinks even that shouldn’t put anyone off
“The manager’s job here is a fantastic role for whoever is lucky enough to get it,” he said. “If you project this club to where we want it to be, we could be pushing and pushing to chase Celtic. But the aim can’t just be to catch them, it should be to surpass them in numerous different ways. If we’re going to grow as a football club, that would be a really laudable aim.
“But whoever comes into this post has to understand that this place is going to be an eye-opener. In very short order, he’ll get a strong grounding in what Rangers is all about. It’s not just at Ibrox or the training ground. It’s everything around the football club and the level of scrutiny from around the world that Rangers attracts.
“So we have to make sure that person has the amount of support that I’ve had to cope with that – and focus on the football club. Everyone in England is desperate to pick my brains about it. I’ve had loads of colleagues and friends phoning me up. They ask, ‘ what have I learnt, what’s it like, what’s unique about that place’?
“The club has gripped me in the short time I’ve been here. It can be allconsuming. But you have to realise and respect the history of the place and the mentality of the following and make sure that you put out a team that perform in keeping with the status of the club.” Murty admitted it would be hard to gauge his feelings until he was actually asked to step aside, but he has no regrets about agreeing to fill in for the short-term.
“This place just grips you because you recognise you are part of something greater than yourself,” he added. “I won’t know how I’ll feel [about stepping aside] until that happens. At the moment I’m just cracking on with the bits I’ve been given to do and I will have a much greater understanding of everything when I .get the chance to look back on it in a quieter, calmer moment – of which there have been few.
“But I wanted to come to a big club and experience what it means to be at a club of this stature and a club that has a level of expectation upon it. For my personal growth as a coach, the reason I came here was to experience – not at this early stage of this magnitude – but wanted to see what it meant to actually be in charge of a team that was expected to win every week. “I was asked if I was worried about my CV and I am really not, because I think when I come out of this experience whenever it ends I will be a far, far better practitioner at whatever level I choose to go to.”
The manager’s job is a fantastic role for whoever is lucky enough to get it