THERE are times when the bleeding obvious still needs to be stated and yesterday Graeme Murty made no apologies for saying out loud what everyone is thinking.

That Rangers need to get their new manger in soon, and the right man instead of a left-field appointment, or Celtic will disappear over several hills, perhaps never to be caught again.

The interim manager, who surely never thought he’d still be that at this stage, will never say a truer word

Murty has been given something of a hospital pass in terms of him being charge for tonight’s mouth-watering meeting with Aberdeen and also Sunday’s trip to the North East for one of the great fixtures in the Premiership season.

Apart from Celtic, these are the hardest games Rangers will face and they do so going into their sixth week without a manager, and there is the highly-anticipated AGM on Thursday. No wonder Murty half-joked that this was making him go bald.

The youth coach toed the party line by saying that things were progressing but the supporters would rather see an appointment made, rather than this waiting game .

Asked whether he could understand why the search for Pedro Caixinha’s replacement was taking longer than many on the outside feel comfortable with, Murty said: “It’s a lot better than getting it wrong.

“This is the key signing for the next three years at the football club. If it takes a couple of weeks more than the fans would like to make sure we move forward then I would ask them for a bit of understanding.

“I know people want things sorted out. I know they want a resolution now but the correct resolution would be better for the football club. Not necessarily for myself, but better for the football club, than a hasty one.

“I have spoken before about where we need to be, how we need to be at the top table of Scottish football. We want to actually get in to European football regularly.

“If we get the next five years right I said that this club is a massive club, an epic name. We want to get it back to where it deserves to be, where we want it to be. If we get that appointment wrong we risk jeopardising that future.

“The last thing we want is for the other guys across town to get further away from us. We want to close the gap. We don’t want that gap to get bigger. The disappointment fans feel now will be critical in that.”

That, in a nutshell is it. This is what Dave King and the rest of the cast need to do.

What also has to happen, and again this is obvious, is the team must start doing better. A lot better.

If Murty can’t get a tune out of this squad either tonight or on Sunday, then Aberdeen and Derek McInnes will take six points off them, and go 12 ahead of the men from Ibrox who have trips to Easter Road and Celtic Park ahead of them.

Rangers needs to win some points over the next two games and a lot of goodwill. We know they can’t win three games in a row. They certainly cannot lose three and then perhaps four, especially to McInnes for obvious reasons.

“I said to the players you have an opportunity on Wednesday and Sunday to go and stake your claim to play in this team and go and win points for this football club,” said Murty. “I told them that would change people’s perception of you.

“Teams aren’t going to give you anything, It’s up to us to be man enough to go out and grasp it.

“If they do that I have no doubt the quality in the squad should be more than enough to take points from Hamilton, Dundee, and Aberdeen. I truly believe that.

“But they have to prove they can do it.”