Rangers manager Graeme Murty says he plans to make himself irreplaceable between now and the end of the season.

Murty has been placed in charge of the Light Blues until the close of the 2017/2018 campaign, having previously been working on an interim basis following Pedro Caixinha's dismissal.

Confirming his desire to take on the job long-term, the former development coach laid out how it is his mission to make sure the Ibrox board have no need to look elsewhere.

He said: "It is my job and the players' job to make ourselves irreplaceable.

"The players have to be irreplaceable in the first 11, I've always said you must aspire to be the best you possibly can be. If I do the best job I can hopefully I make it a relatively simple for the board moving forward.

"But that will be assessed on an ongoing basis and we will do that together. If I can move the club forward I will be happy with my work."

He added: "I think when you get an opportunity like this, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity to work as manager at Rangers.

"You don't just want do it for a short period of time, if I'm good at it and stand out hopefully I can get to do it for longer.

"That's my aim, it's always to improve and move my career forward."

Rangers had previously sought to appoint Derek McInnes, but the Aberdeen manager rejected the opportunity to move to Glasgow.

Murty said: "Derek made a decision we fully respect. I now have an opportunity because of that to manage a wonderful football club. This is one of the top jobs in British football."

"It was something in the dim future but it is happening now, far earlier than I thought it would.

"It's a really unbelievable opportunity for me and I want to address it as that. There's no way I could turn it down.

Murty confirmed players have been identified ahead of the January transfer window, during which he will have final say on transfers.

Rangers will also seek to add another coach to assist Murty with first-team matters.