AN embarrassing collapse which summed up Rangers season. That was just one punchline which has uncharitably been applied to Graeme Murty’s piece of failed touchline acrobatics during the 2-1 defeat against Dundee at Dens Park.

A backwards roll into a handstand which never materialised, instead the 42-year-old crumpled to the ground with egg on his face, the incident captured in all its glory by the Sky cameras for posterity. In the old days, it would have been You’ve Been Framed material. These days Murty’s fate is even worse. The video clip has already gone viral and let’s just say that he is going to see rather lot of it.

Speaking for the first time since the incident – which was was sparked by Harry Forrester missing a close range chance which would have got Rangers back on terms on the day – Murty insisted yesterday that he was mortified about suddenly becoming such a social media sensation, and joked that he usually finishes with the flourish of an Olympic gymnast. “It was kind of a visual representation of how I was feeling,” said Murty. “I honestly thought we had got back into it. Personally, I am absolutely mortified. I am getting so much grief and rightly so.

“It normally comes back up into a perfect handstand,” he said. “But about halfway up, I thought: What am I doing? I hoped that no-one had seen it – forgetting it was on Sky!

“But you know what? It was just the emotion of the situation. Because we had put ourselves in such a hard place and I thought the lads had done it by digging themselves out. We just couldn’t get that finish.”

Onto the serious business then and the Ibrox side’s increasingly desperate bid to overhaul Aberdeen and finish in second place. This has been another week of soul searching and introspection at Murray Park, with all of the club’s players – even injured ones like Niko Kranjcar – being given the floor to say their piece ahead of tomorrow’s fraught visit to Inverness.

While Murty is happy with the support he has received from the board, as yet he has no idea how long he will be in charge, and if any reinforcements will have arrived before the visit to Parkhead on March 12, where – depending on results – Celtic could even claim their sixth top flight title in a row.

It is the kind of pressured situation at a giant institution which even certain experienced figures would run a mile from but the man himself said yesterday he said he still felt “dazzled” and “fortunate” to be able to cut his teeth at such a club.

In terms of pressure, the only comparison he could draw was that of battling against relegation from the Barclays Premier League with Reading. But unlike his playing days, once the players go on the field, there was only so much he could influence things.

A man of hidden depths, Murty drew the comparison between his own situation and the conductor of an orchestra.

“As a player, you are able to be on the pitch implementing stuff,” he said. “As a coach, it is different. I once saw a fantastic TED talk by a guy called Benjamin Zander, who is a fantastic conductor. He said he relies on the players in his orchestra for his power, because he makes no sound.

“Coaching is exactly like that. I don’t make a sound. I don’t kick a ball. But what you see on the football pitch directly correlates to what I have done during the week.

“That feeling of not holding on too tight, is the hardest changeover from footballer to coach.”