Murty eyes Celtic Park showdown

GRAEME MURTY feels it would be a ‘stellar’ experience to lead Rangers into Celtic Park after making clear his willingness to remain in charge for as long as required. The interim boss insists the Ibrox board are right to take their time sourcing the best long-term candidates for both manager and director of football. That latter post could be filled this week — with Southampton scouting director Ross Wilson the favoured target — but the hunt for Mark Warburton’s

replacement is likely to take longer. Rangers host St Johnstone tomorrow evening before Saturday’s Scottish Cup quarter-final against Hamilton. Eight days after that, they face a daunting assignment against a rampant Celtic side that have won this season’s three previous Old Firm encounters. Few would envy Murty that task should he remain at the helm, but the former Scotland international would seek to embrace the challenge. Asked if he would welcome facing Celtic, he replied: ‘Oh, wow, that’s a loaded question! ‘If it happens, it would be a stellar moment for me as a person, to walk out there and experience that — the positive and negative parts of the atmosphere, the hostility, that exuberance that Celtic have got at the moment and the challenge of preparing a team to go there and handle that. ‘Would it be difficult? Yeah. Would it be something to look back on and say I learned a great deal about myself and about the players? Absolutely. ‘But I’ve said from the start that it would be presumptuous of me to project that far forward.’ Murty admits that handling the intensity of an Old Firm occasion would be a leap into the unknown. ‘I try hard not to get caught up in what goes on outside the pitch,’ he said. ‘I know I exchanged some views with the fourth official the other night, but, generally, I concern myself only with what the players need. ‘But it would be new to me. Your intentions can be all well and good, but until you are put in that situation, you don’t know how you’ll handle it. So I couldn’t tell you just yet.’ After a winning start against Morton, Murty has suffered back-to-back defeats against Dundee and Inverness — with Rangers now nine points adrift of second-placed Aberdeen. ‘It’s been difficult, but I am still willing to do it for as long as they want me to,’ he added. ‘So I have put no time pressure upon them. I accept the amount of time the board will take to make their appointment. ‘I did it freely at the start. I do it freely now. I am willing to fulfil the role as long as they want me to.’ Meanwhile, Wilson is weighing up whether to leave Southampton to take on the key strategic post at Ibrox. The English club’s chairman, Ralph Krueger, yesterday admitted he couldn’t rule out his departure. ‘For us, it’s always a compliment. People always seem to want to come to us to look at our personnel,’ he said. ‘I spoke to Ross last week and we had lunch together. He’s very committed and excited to stay with us. But for us, we never believe that everybody needs to stay with us forever. ‘When you grow as a club, people will come, people will go and, at the moment, Ross Wilson is an important part of our group and he seems committed to where we are moving. ‘It’s a compliment to the club that we are getting looked at, at all different levels. But there has been no talks there yet.’