Stand-in boss keen to learn from first error
GRAEME MURTY has confessed to making a blunder over the announcement of the Rangers team for his first-ever match as a manager.
Last Sunday, the stand-in gaffer stalled on naming the starting line-up for the William Hill Scottish Cup tie against Morton until shortly before kick-off.
On reflection, he felt the delay did no favours for the atmosphere in the camp as substitutes and those omitted digested their disappointment together in the build-up to kick-off.
That is why Murty declared his team for today’s trip to Dundee to the squad on Friday at the training ground, before which there were ‘awkward conversations’ with two players not named in the party.
Murty was watching Glasgow Warriors playing on Friday night the previous week when he received the call from Ibrox to step up from head development squad coach to caretaker boss at the club. Rangers muddled their way through at Ibrox to reach the last eight with a 2-1 victory thanks to comeback goals from Kenny Miller and Martyn Waghorn.
Preparation for his second match in charge, a league trip to Dens Park, has been less chaotic and allowed Murty to make a significant tweak to the timing of his team news.
‘I’ve thought about this because I didn’t have a lot of time last week, so I named the team in the changing room on Sunday,’ he explained. ‘That was wrong. I thought I made a mistake.
‘In my defence, I didn’t have a lot of time. The people involved — or, rather, not involved and the people on the bench — were in that dressing room at 1.30pm dealing with that emotionally.
‘And then it’s very difficult to get rid of those emotions in time to become an energiser for your team. So I said to them beforehand this time that I didn’t like that. I didn’t like the way I made them feel.
‘And I will give them more time to deal with it in future, so they can still come and add more value to the squad. I’ll do the same next week as it’s not about 11 players. It’s about everyone in the squad.
‘I said to the players that I can’t be beholden to anyone else. I have to make the decisions I deem right to go on and win the game.’