GRAEME Murty can earn the Rangers job on a permanent basis by making the team competitive at the top of the Premiership and in the Scottish Cup, says Ibrox director of football Mark Allen.
Murty, who had taken over on an interim basis following the departure of Pedro Caixinha in October, was handed the job until the end of the season on Friday, only to get off to an inauspicious start when he presided over a 2-1 defeat to Kilmarnock at Rugby Park yesterday.
Asked if he had someone in mind to take over the role at the end of the season, Allen said: “I don’t think you should rule Graeme Murty out first and foremost. We’ve appointed him as manager of the football club and we have to give him every chance of success and support, which he will be given.
“If someone does well, why would you appoint differently? That’s what I would say. The most important thing is that we get behind Graeme right now and give him every possible chance of success.
“He’s clear and concise in terms of his messages, he’s a very good coach – tactically he’s very sound – and he brings an overwhelming enthusiasm, passion and respect for what this job is and the privilege we should all feel for being part of this football club.”
Allen dismissed suggestions Murty was only appointed as Rangers boss as a last resort after their first choice, Aberdeen manager Derek McInnes, rejected the position.
“I went back to the board and asked which strategy we were going to go for, this one, this one or this one?” said Allen. “The board made the decision in which direction they were going to go, and Graeme was the obvious candidate then.”
Squandering a lead to lose for the second successive week won’t help his chances of extending his tenure, and the 43-year-old said last night he and his players were under scrutiny.
“I’ve got no doubt right now I’m being judged by many, many people,” said Murty. “Likewise the players. You’re always playing for your future as a footballer, chasing your next contract. When you’re filling a shirt for Rangers you have to go and perform regardless of the pressure you’re feeling.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel