Though he had no trouble inflicting pain on Graeme Murty via his side's performances in recent Old Firm games, Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers does have sympathy for the aches the temporary Rangers manager has suffered due to the actions of his own board.
Celtic claimed their seventh consecutive Scottish title on Sunday when defeating Rangers 5-0 at Celtic Park. A fortnight earlier, the scoreline had been 4-0 when Celtic won an Old Firm Scottish Cup semi-final.
In the build-up to those games, Murty had to deal with speculation regarding who will be the next permanent Rangers manager - some of that speculation was generated by the club's own board.
Ahead of the weekend's game, rumours mounted that Steven Gerrard will take over next season. The Liverpool legend is said to be amid talks with Rangers.
"I have real empathy for Graeme Murty," Rodgers is quoted as saying by The Telegraph.
What that guy has had to go through in the build-up to big games, I have really felt for him. Talk about his role and his position?
This is a guy who, at this time last year, was heralded as a very good coach for young players and I’m sure with first-team players as well, wanting to go into sessions because he really enjoyed his work.
The past six months have been Murty's second stint as interim boss. He also took the reins for a month between the sacking of Mark Warburton and the appointment of Pedro Caixinha last year. Rodgers believes Murty did a good job of stabilising the Ibrox ship during that first period in charge.
"He then gets asked to come in and do it again. What seems to be happening is that he gets thrown in below the bus, but this is a guy who has done everything he possibly can, I’m sure.
"As you build for big games, your focus should be on the field and on performance and I’m disappointed for him that it wasn’t the case. You know there is always pressure and expectancy on these [Old Firm] games. If a lot of the background noise isn’t there, you can just focus on the game."
