Murty admits key duo are doubts

Graeme Murty has surprisingly cast doubt over the fitness of recently-returned Jamie Murphy by suggesting the attacker may not be fit for Sunday after all, while confirming the problem with Russell Martin.

Murphy took full part in training yesterday along with fellow returnee Declan John, but along with Lee Wallace, has been cast into the ‘doubtful’ category for participation at the weekend, while Martin was nowhere to be seen.

Murty said:

“Russell felt a disruption in his back and we have de-loaded him. We are going to see how he goes with a bit of treatment. Jamie will be the same, we will give them both the maximum time possible to see how comfortable they are feeling and make our selection from there. We will make our decision as late as possible to give all the guys enough time to feel really fresh for a big game.”

Murty is doing a fine job of the cloak and dagger stuff here – trying to predict the XI is now nearly impossible based on empirical evidence – the only man who truly has an idea of who will start is the man in charge.

This gives Celtic much less of an edge, given Rangers’ weekend opponents will be struggling immensely to develop the appropriate gameplan to face the hosts.

We all have a fair idea of what Rangers’ best team is, but the manager is doing a grand job of concealing his hand and giving no hint to Brendan Rodgers over who will be in the XI.