Remember just a couple of weeks, we were thinking about the title? Those thoughts are a long way off now, and the fortunes of Graeme Murty have certainly swung wildly from one extreme to another in the same period.
Walter Smith has a great deal of sympathy for our manager`s situation. He was given an unenviable task when he took over a difficult situation following the sacking of Pedro Caixinha. Speaking to the Evening Times, the Rangers legend explained the predicament:
‘I think he’s been put in an awkward position. Anybody who is named caretaker manager between a January period and the end of the season is always in an awkward position. Even player wise, the players don’t know whether he’s going to be there for next season or whatever else. So it’s an awkward circumstance for him to be placed in.’
‘If you look a couple of weeks ago everybody was saying he was doing well. He has won a good few games and it was looking as though they were getting a level of consistency, maybe for the first time this season. But then you have a couple of home games that you lose and of course everybody turns the opposite way. That’s the position he’s been placed in and I don’t think you can blame him for that.’
Our current situation is undoubtedly just as much down to the board as the manager. The failures in their last two managerial appointments have left the playing squad lacking an identity. There was some good business done in January, but it will take a lot more than one transfer window to address the imbalances in the team, and the lack of quality in certain areas.
Expecting an interim boss, whose future is not certain either, to create a successful team from this group of players never looked to be possible. Dave King and the board have to been thinking longer term, both in terms of the managerial situation but also in regard to transfer policy.
The haphazard recruitment of recent years was never likely going to lead to success on the pitch. Finding an identity, and developing a squad who all share the values of the club is vital. It can`t be done overnight so putting the blame squarely at the current manager`s door is not entirely fair, in my opinion.
Whether he is the right manager going forward after the end of the season, I don`t think he is, but the problems on the pitch are more systemic than a change of boss can fix. We have to put a coherent strategy in place that will lead us to success. What approach should we take? Let me know in the poll.