JUST ONE THING ON MURTY’S MIND

Words of King cause no distraction when there is Celtic to beat

BETWEEN a chairman’s comments and a defender’s departure, Graeme Murty could have been excused for feeling a little distracted in the build-up to a potentially defining day.

The 43-year-old insists nothing could be further from the truth. Making sure the Rangers players share a single-minded belief in success over Celtic has been his sole focus over the past six days.

Murty dismisses any suggestion of feeling undermined by Dave King’s message to season-ticket holders earlier this week. The Ibrox chairman praised Murty’s work since stepping up to fill the managerial void left by Pedro Caixinha’s sacking, but stopped some way short of offering any guarantee that he would remain in charge next season.

That, the former Scotland defender claims, was precisely how he viewed the situation anyway.

Learning that David Bates would move to Hamburg when his contract expires this summer perhaps stung a little more. After all, Murty had been central to both the player’s development in the Under-20 squad and his emergence as a first-team regular. But a mentor’s powers of persuasion become limited once financial realities intervene.

Bates is still recovering from an ankle injury and will not feature in a Scottish Cup semi-final that could hardly be of greater significance. Murty’s future prospects, and those of several Ibrox players, could be on the line beside the obvious opportunity to stop Celtic’s bid for back-to-back Trebles.

For Rangers, there is also the not-so-small matter of ending a run of nine derby games without victory. After a creditable stalemate at Parkhead in December, a 3-2 defeat at home last month came despite operating against ten men for the final 34 minutes.

The nature of that triumph has led Scott Brown to claim Celtic could now be in the heads of the Rangers players. Murty brushes off the attempt at mind games, but admits the time has arrived for his side to prove they can be Old Firm victors.

‘Scott says lots of things that he believes are true,’ argued Murty. ‘I believe that my team have more than enough, and showed more than enough, to cause Celtic a problem.

‘We obviously have to understand where they are dangerous and we understand they have good players. But I believe the gap has closed, demonstrably. And we have to make sure that the next step we take is going and winning a game. Because I think that when we do win a game, it will kick our belief into another level.

‘I believe it would do wonders for our psyche as a team. That’s all I’m looking at. I’m making sure the players believe in themselves as a team and what we are doing.

‘I believe the league has become closer this year. I think we are ready and we need to take the next step of winning that game then going and winning a trophy. Because we need to demonstrate that it is getting closer.

‘Rather than getting the last game out of their system, I think they should use it as motivation to remember how hurt they were and disappointed to let them off the hook. Use that as motivation to make sure that when they walk off the football pitch, they have got a smile on their face.’

While no decision has yet been taken, Murty’s hopes of a longer tenure suffered from last month’s defeat to Celtic and the poor performances that followed it.

Winning Rangers’ first major trophy since 2011 might well be the only way to propel himself back into serious contention. But Murty has not sought any clarity in the wake of King’s comments.

‘I haven’t had a conversation with the chairman — I haven’t felt the need to,’ he said. ‘As far as I read it, my situation hasn’t changed. It was just a reiteration of the current situation — a manager will be appointed at the end of the season.

‘Regardless of whether that’s me or someone else, that’s what has to happen because my contract is only until the end of the season.

‘You have to deal with it. It was just a clarification to the season-ticket holders who have come out and backed us fantastically well that someone will be appointed in the summer.

‘We have gone through the week focusing on what we can control. I can’t control David going to Hamburg and then announcing that. I can’t control anything else that’s been released. ‘I can control what we do on the training pitch. From my point of view, the players have focused really well. They understand it is a difficult game but they feel it is a game they can win and I agree with them wholeheartedly.’ Josh Windass has returned to fitness, giving Murty food for thought about how to best structure his side at Hampden. Sacrificing the Englishman to add more steel to midfield is one option supporters have debated.

The Ibrox manager stresses, however, that being ‘more clinical in both penalty areas’ is the key. That means no repeat of the close-range miss from Alfredo Morelos that denied Rangers a 3-3 draw against Celtic last month.

‘I think he has already said he has a point to prove,’ said Murty of the Colombian striker. ‘I understand the assets and attributes he brings. It is up to us to try to get the most out of him and put him in the situation to go and make the difference for us.

‘I believe he can be a difference-maker. If he gets an opportunity, I hope he can go and take it and put a smile on his face, because I think missing the last one hurt him a bit.’