BOOTROOM

STAND-IN BOSS ON DREAM ROLE

GRAEME MURTY has lifted the lid on managing Rangers and insists the entire experience has been mindblowing. The stand-in boss has taken the reins for the second time in the wake of the sacking of Pedro Caixinha three weeks ago and is looking for his third win on the spin on Saturday when Hamilton come calling at Ibrox – a feat never achieved by the Portuguese. Victories over Hearts and Partick Thistle have led to calls in some quarters for Murty to be given the job on a permanent basis but the Rangers Academy chief is adamant he is taking the caretaker role one day at a time. But when Murty considers the legends who have managed the club – men like Bill Struth, Graeme Souness and Walter Smith – he is humbled to have been given the opportunity, even on a temporary basis. The 43-year-old told the Training Ground Guru website: “You think about the people who have sat in the seat I’m currently in, and it’s wild. “It is still very, very special to me. I’ve enjoyed it. What I’d like to do is concentrate on doing the job and not worrying about what might happen in the future. “I’ve had lots of questions – ‘Do you want it?’ ‘Do you think you should have it?’ – but I just want to crack on with it. “The reason I got into coaching is to help players get better and perform. If I’m doing that, you will eventually get to the level you’re supposed to be at.” While Murty is concentrating on the first team at the moment he is keeping more than one eye on his ‘real’ job with the Under 20s – and in particular with how they are faring against some of Europe’s top Academies, whom they have chosen to play rather than compete in the SPFL’s development league.

The Under-20s have faced sides such as Liverpool, Manchester City and most recently Manchester United, with whom they drew 2-2.

That decision has come in for criticism in some quarters – including from former Ibrox midfielder Alex Rae in a Record Rangers podcast – but Murty is adamant it is the way ahead and will help progress the careers of the kids who dream of featuring in the Rangers first team.

Murty said: “We went to the performance centre in Largs during the close season – all the coaches, the sports science department, and we thrashed it out.

“We changed our terminology, our curriculum, our principles and our sub principles. We made sure it all fitted together. We’ve got something we are quite proud of but it’s always evolving. People who don’t see it on a daily basis can say what they like.

“We think you can see a development in our young players across the board. The sessions are bright, clear and hitting the objectives.

“I’d recommend any journalist or pundit to come and visit us – they are welcome to. We’ve had a lot of visitors and they have tended to walk away saying the culture runs through everything we do. “This isn’t just on paper, we are living it every day. Lots of people are putting themselves out there about what is right for us but we are confident this will bear fruit in the long term. “All Rangers teams will be prepared to defend and maintain our culture of playing relentlessly attacking football. “Teams will demonstrate our exciting and dynamic brand of purposeful possession-based football with the highest level of technical ability and creativity. “This will be married to an intense highenergy pressing game designed to prepare our players to excel in the four moments of the game, winning for Rangers in the SPFL and in Europe. “We are trying to change what we’ve always done. We’ve opted out of the games programme to test this method and find out whether it works. We’ve played Man City, Liverpool, Feyenoord, AZ Alkmaar. “The best thing has been the discussion among the players – often they say, ‘we’ve not seen this style before,’ or ‘we’ve not encountered this problem’. “They are really enjoying it and it’s challenging them. In terms of progression to the first team, we’ve had a mini success with Ross (McCrorie), who has established himself.

“But it’s our job now to make sure this progression is consistent, that we are bringing through youngsters of the quality and standard and mindset to be Rangers players.”

Murty is satisfied with the promotion of youth into the first team, and reckons 95 per cent of youth players have now trained with the established professionals.

The coach refused to drop McCrorie for the Partick game – despite the return of Bruno Alves – and his call was vindicated with the centre-back scoring.

He also gave 19-year-old Ryan Hardie game-time while Jamie Barjonas was on the bench for the 3-0 victory.

Murty believes his faith in youth is beginning to pay dividends and he said: “We’ve got Ross, Jamie and Ryan in the squad and Robbie McCrorie and Liam Kelly coming up behind them as well.

“If I’m looking at the Under-20s, I’d say 95 per cent of them have trained with the first-team squad at some stage this season which is great. They get to see the best players doing what they do and what it takes to stay there.

“Jamie’s development has come on apace because he’s training with Ryan Jack, Graham Dorrans, Niko Kranjcar and Kenny Miller.

“These players are aspiring to be first-team players, so they need to see it. Pedro was very open. If the 20s had a session, we would often schedule it so we were able to go and watch the first team train – to see what it’s like to be a Rangers player, to look and listen.

“They would always come back and talk about the noise, the intensity, the demands. That led to their own sessions improving in those regards.”

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GRAEME MURTY