Graeme Murty has revealed his regrets about substituting Andy Halliday during the first-half of last weekend’s humiliating 4-0 defeat to Celtic.
Rangers went into the game knowing that beating Celtic represented their only chance of redeeming what’s been a hot and cold season for the Ibrox club.
However, what was once considered a shot at redemption quickly turned into a nightmare afternoon at Hampden.
Brendan Rodgers’ side completely dominated the game from start to finish, with Ross McCrorie seeing red before a furious row broke out between Alfredo Morelos and Greg Docherty at the final whistle.
Meanwhile, the suspensions of both captain Lee Wallace and veteran front man Kenny Miller have only compounded Gers fans’ misery.
But the first and very early sign that it wasn’t to be a good afternoon for Rangers came when Murty decided to substitute surprise starter Halliday… after just 41 minutes.
Halliday was visibly furious with the decision that saw him take a seat on the bench before half-time, and Murty has revealed in this afternoon’s press conference that he regrets the call “as a human being” but feels he had to change something:
Andy Newport from the Scottish Press Association was on hand to Tweet Murty’s comments:
the game. Andy was the unfortunate guy. It’s horrible. It happens. It’s football. He didn’t vent it at me as he came off. I didn’t know about it until afterwards. I’ve no idea who it was aimed at.”
— Andy Newport (@AndyNewportPA) April 20, 2018
The defeat to Celtic seems to have ended all speculation that Murty could get the Rangers job on a permanent basis at the end of the season, with Frank De Boer, Alan Pardew and Steve Clarke all being mentioned as alternatives.
Before the Ibrox club can look toward making a managerial change though, there’s the small matter of securing second-spot in the Scottish Premiership, with Hearts set to travel to Glasgow on Sunday afternoon.
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