DRINKING IT ALL IN
My glass of wine was put on hold but I’m loving my first taste of being a manager says stand-in Murty
GRAEME MURTY was hoping to grab the wine out of the fridge and pour himself an industrialsized glass to toast his first league win as caretaker boss.
Wednesday’s last-gasp win over St Johnstone was all the sweeter after the flak his side had taken about lacking bottle.
But Murty had to put the plonk on ice as there was someone even more excited to see Rangers shake off their post-Mark Warburton hangover.
The interim boss was spotted blowing kisses towards the director’s box after Emerson Hyndman’s stoppage-time winner.
But they were not aimed at the Ibrox board – they were for his daughter Freya who was leaping for joy at seeing her dad drinking up the cheers at the final whistle.
It was a moment that summed up the Gers youth coach. And as he prepares to stand down for the incoming management team, Murty admitted the last three weeks have taught him a lot about maintaining a healthy balance between family life and the madcap world of football.
He said: “I didn’t get a chance for that glass of wine because my little girl was at her first game with me in charge. She was hyper and bouncing all over the place.
“It was more a case of calming her down than me relaxing. She was bouncing off and I was trying to get some sleep! But it was an enjoyable evening.
“Family’s the most important thing to me. I love my football but making my wife and my little daughter smile on a daily basis is much more important.
“So for them to be there last night and share that with me was special for us as a family group.”
It’s been a whirlwind few weeks for the Murty clan. Thrust in to the firing line he’s had to think on his feet. He has occasionally been lost amid the crazy fog but never lost sight of what matters.
Murty said: “It’s hard to give my wife and daughter the time they need because this job’s all consuming. You’re always thinking about it. I referenced walking around Loch Lomond and thinking instead about formations and shape and, ‘Oh my God, what if he’s injured?’
“But there has to come a shut off and spend time at the places that keep you grounded.
“As I get further on in my coaching career and wherever I go I’ll have to become better at doing that and disassociating myself from the daily job. Making sure I’m there as dad and as a husband, giving them what they need.
“It’s definitely in my mind to make sure I can give enough to both parts of my life to be a success.
“This experience, as difficult as it has been in some ways, will definitely give me a good grounding and a real good basis for making a decision as to what I want to do. I also think it will make me better at whatever I choose to do.”
Murty will go back to the youth set-up but added: “I’ll definitely come out of this better for the process – a better coach, a better man-manager and more able to understand the demands of playing high-level sport whatever age group I work with. You have to push yourself whatever you do in life. Why go into something half-hearted?
“You shouldn’t come into it at all with that attitude – you’d be failing the players, the club and yourself.
“But as demanding as this job is you have to find a way to ground yourself and get away from it. It can consume you, it can burn you out.
“I was asked last week if my CV would be damaged by the experiences I’m having and finding it difficult not getting a win.
“But the experience I gain from this will make me a far better person, a far better coach and the challenges you face in your life define who you are going to be.
“I’m grateful for the experience.” But does that experience tempt him to put his hand up for a more hands-on role in the new regime?
Murty said: “I haven’t even considered it to be honest. I’m like a swan at the moment. You’re seeing the serene bit right now and I’m paddling like you’d never know underneath.
“I’m just cracking on with the bits I’ve been given responsibility for and whatever happens after that we’ll have a look at it then.”
Murty has done his best to shield the squad from a barrage of criticism. Defeats to Dundee and Inverness only intensified the scrutiny at the club and he admitted the players have been stung by the snipers.
He said: “No one exists in a vacuum. As strong-minded as you’d like to be these things can have an impact.
“But you have to make sure as a coach and as a person you take care of the person first and if a player out there needs a kick up the backside or an arm round the shoulder that’s all about the coach understanding the person and having that personal relationship.
“I’ll take that away from here and when I go into whatever job I go into it will be about the person.”
Murty is likely to be in charge for the final time tomorrow against Hamilton. He said: “I love cup competitions. It’s a fantastic opportunity to put yourself on a really big stage.
“I’m aware that this club has one of the biggest stages in Europe as a weekly home so we have to make sure that when we go out there we need to put ourselves forward in a good light.”