Graeme Murty’s latest club interview is worrying to see

There comes a time when everyone realises the game is up. Going by Rangers manager Graeme Murty’s latest club interview, this is the time – we have been hard on him the past few weeks, but the results have been mostly poor, the performances definitely terrible and the strain is clearly showing.

If ever a Rangers manager looked a defeated and desperately stressed man, it is now – and we really do feel for him.

Sure, he didn’t have to accept the job, but he did, and it has clearly become too much for him – his interview for the official club channels as published today is actually hard to watch – all the surefire signs of stress and grief are there – pale complexion, broken out skin, sullen demeanour, and a real lack of body language.

And we never want anyone to feel that way – the job was always too big for him, and while there was a great honeymoon period that we all loved and all bought into, it has definitely changed in the past month or so, and for all his mistakes recently, self-inflicted or not, it will never give us any satisfaction to see a man look like Murty is now.

We would be perfectly content for the guy to go back into the shadows and back to the Academy – he is not built for front line football management, certainly not at a club the size of Rangers.

As he himself admitted, the club is colossal, and only managers of Rangers understand just how pressure, brutal, massive and intense the job is – we supporters and websites and fan groups etc will never know how tough it is to be the manager at this club and the gravity of the responsibility looks like it has truly gotten to him.

The last time we saw a manager this uncomfortable was Kenny McDowall, when the caretaker was clearly 100% out of his comfort zone and struggled deeply with the job.

Again, in both cases, no guns were held to heads or orders given to take the job; men these intelligent can find work elsewhere in football if that’s what they want (although we understand McDowall remains out of work to this day), and Murty’s stock has certainly benefitted from his time at Ibrox.

He has learned a lot, and while it hasn’t gone wholly to plan, we certainly thank him for giving us a couple of months of hope – it was nice to believe Rangers were on the way back to the top, even if it’s faltered now.

Whatever happens to Murty, we hope he lands on his feet – whatever flaws he has, the way he looks now just isn’t nice to see. And we really don’t wish that on anyone.