Graeme Murty’s work at Rangers won’t be remembered fondly, yet he still deserves all of the praise he’s been getting.
The Rangers Under-20 coach was the man of the hour at Rangers’ AGM yesterday. He took a plethora of praise from chairman Dave King thanks to his service in two different spells as club manager.
Murty took over and saw some positive results come his way after Mark Warburton’s departure last year. He was then given the gig again for seven months after Pedro Caixinha was provided the bullet. During that run, he built up hope of a title-challenge before eventually fading away.
King, during a lengthy speech that went over 20 minutes, singled out Murty as his “man of the year” for his exploits.
“I want to thank a man who to my mind is a true Rangers hero.”
“For the second time, and at great personal anguish much of the time, Graeme Murty put the club ahead of himself by taking on the extremely difficult role of interim manager for a prolonged period and under challenging circumstances.
“Graeme, I am extremely grateful for your sacrifice and for your decision to continue to help the youngsters at the Academy despite your disappointment. You are my man of the year.”
Deserved recognition
Murty didn’t get anywhere near the credit he deserved for taking charge of the ship at tricky times. When results went his way, that’s when people started to take notice of him and the job he was doing. When they didn’t? Well, he got sacked.
The fact is, however, that Murty never asked for the Rangers job. It was a situation that opened up to him that he felt obliged to take. In a strong sense, he believed he was simply helping the club out.
His early form after Caixinha was sacked earned him the gig until the end of the season. He had a huge opportunity to show Rangers that he was perhaps the man to lead the club full-time.
Unfortunately that wasn’t the case, and he had to suffer some embarrassing results in the dugout. His demeanour and tactical awareness was consistently questioned by everyone, and he was almost like a sacrificial lamb in matches against Celtic.
He hasn’t truly been acknowledged for the tough times he agreed to take on at Ibrox. He was inexperienced, gave it a go, and it didn’t work out. Murty won 17 of his 29 matches in charge last season. He lost nine others. Therefore, he certainly didn’t disgrace himself in the most trying of times.
It’s great to see King, and Rangers as a club, acknowledge his work.
