Tom Boyd believes that the cockiness of the Ibrox dressing room contributed to their demoralising defeat from Celtic.
After being drawn against Celtic in the semi final of the Scottish Cup the Sevco players let out a cheer.
On it’s own that wouldn’t be noteworthy but when Graeme Murty decided to reveal that fact in an interview with ‘Rangers’ TV it took on a different dynamic.
After the cheering became public Sevco spent a week trying to dampen down expectations but that act dominated the build up to Celtic’s latest win at Ibrox.
“There was the cockiness from them beforehand and the cheering which came from their dressing room after they’d been drawn against the champions in the semi-finals of the Scottish Cup,” Boyd explained to the Evening Times.
“They’d been given some adulation after being in some wonderful games and scoring a lot of goals against some lesser opposition so they’d gone into the game with some confidence.
“Add to that they were playing in their own territory, they’d been in front twice and Celtic had then gone down to 10 men and still beaten them, which shows the commitment and the desire of Brendan’s players.
“It will be a big blow for them. I think that [cheering at the draw] is probably part of Graeme Murty’s learning curve as a manager. You don’t ever give the opposition a motivational speech and that’s what he did.
“Not that Celtic needed it. Right from the start they looked composed on the ball but there was a level of cockiness and optimism about them and it’s proved to be unfounded.”
After Sunday’s defeat Murty was scathing in his criticism of the players claiming that they’ll never get a better chance to beat Celtic.
With the benefit of video analysis and media training the Ibrox caretaker will hold a media conference today and is expected to focus on closing the gap and the small margins between victory and defeat.
Murty is two years younger than Brendan Rodgers.
