Graeme Murty has suddenly departed Ibrox after Rangers’ 5-0 Scottish Premiership mauling away to Celtic on Sunday.
“I love the role. I’ll do everything I possibly can to keep the role.”
Those are the words of Graeme Murty on Friday to STV News, shortly before Rangers travelled to Celtic for the final Old Firm derby of the season. The 40-year-old had been the club’s interim manager since October and, amid reports that Steven Gerrard has been offered the full-time job, Murty was not willing to leave Ibrox without a fight.
But, just four days later, Murty has gone.
The Daily Record report that the former U20 coach has left the Glasgow giants and will not be in charge of the weekend’s clash with Kilmarnock. This comes after Rangers were thrashed at Parkhead, going down 5-0 just a fortnight after a 4-0 defeat to the same opponents in the Scottish Cup semi-finals.
And the report suggests that Murty’s sudden exit has something to do with a lack of backing behind the scenes.
The Daily Record claim that Murty was in a ‘fragile’ state of mind after another battering on the green half of Glasgow and felt deserted by the Rangers’ directors in the aftermath.
It is also stated that he felt humiliated when owner Dave King wrote a letter to season-ticket holders two weeks ago which pretty much made it clear that he had no plans to offer Murty the manager’s job on a full-time basis.
Interestingly, Celtic counterpart Brendan Rodgers even went as far as to publically criticise Rangers for their handling of Murty’s situation after the former Reading captain intimated that he felt a little undermined by the club entering talks with Gerrard.
“He’s just been thrown to the garbage really and I think it’s very, very discourteous,” Rodgers told the BBC.
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