If you are a film buff, you may recognise the quote; "The first time someone calls you a horse you punch him on the nose, the second time someone calls you a horse you call him a jerk, but the third time someone calls you a horse, well then perhaps it's time to go shopping for a saddle."

Graeme Murty should perhaps bear these words in mind as he comes to terms with the fact that he is now the Rangers manager, despite his own disbelief, until at least the end of the season.

Murty is a popular man among the Rangers support, and is one that they have taken to their hearts for his efforts after being thrust into a position somewhere between a rock and a hard place as interim manager of the club.

He is also great to deal with on a professional basis, coming across as a thoroughly decent man whenever you come into contact with him.

So, no slight is intended on Murty when it is said that the news yesterday of his appointment to the end of the season has been about as popular as the short-lived covers over the iconic glass staircases of the Ibrox main stand within the majority of the Rangers support.

Murty seemed as surprised as anyone else, even going as far to say that he didn’t think last weekend’s 3-1 home defeat to St Johnstone would have affected his chances of getting the gig on a permanent basis, because even he didn’t think he had a snowball in hell’s chance of landing the job anyway. But here we are.

Questions are now inevitably being asked of the Rangers board and the direction they are taking the club, and director of football Mark Allen is facing particular scrutiny in terms of what his role actually entails and what his grand plan is, if indeed he has one, after the club’s overtures were rejected by Derek McInnes a couple of weeks back.

The quote at the top of this piece is from the mid-noughties movie Lucky Number Slevin, in which there is a deception called the Kansas City Shuffle, described as going left, when everyone else is looking to the right.

And the timing of this announcement does have a certain deliberate feel to it, coming as it did on the same day that Rangers chairman Dave King was ordered to make an £11million to the remaining shareholders by a Court of Session judge.

What is also curious about the timing of the appointment is that it has come close to the winter break, which you would imagine would have provided a natural juncture for a period of reflection before committing to Murty for the remainder of the campaign.

Not only have his Rangers side just come off the back of a disappointing home defeat to St Johnstone, but it is entirely possible that the three tricky-looking fixtures before the shutdown – today’s visit to Kilmarnock, the home tie against Motherwell and the derby against Celtic to round off the year – may not go Murty’s way either.

If things don’t go well, then will Rangers be faced with the prospect of having to re-evaluate this decision, and actually sack Murty? Or will they carry on regardless?

And if Murty does get Rangers winning regularly, competing at the top end of the table and maybe even wins the Scottish Cup, how do the Rangers board deny him the opportunity to take over permanently after putting him through surely the longest audition in history?

Either way, it looks as if they are fumbling in the dark. And either way, Murty deserves better.

Rangers’ chances of winning the Premiership may have been slim already, but with Celtic at long last showing some signs of fallibility, there are plenty in the Rangers support who will feel that the appointment of such an inexperienced manager, even if it is still only on a finite basis, is akin to running up the white flag on their ambitions to capture the one that comes with the title of champions.

And while the Rangers board hope that the appointment helps provide some clarity for the existing players in the squad, the issue of who is responsible for incoming transfers remains as clear as mud.

Murty will have final say on all signings, it is said. But with players who are the remnants of two managers’ failed philosophies already in situ, will a new manager coming in during the summer want to be lumbered with more players that don’t fit in with his own grand plan?

The Rangers board have to make clear what their own grand plan is to the Rangers supporters. And in the meantime, I genuinely hope that Murty takes to the saddle well.