Murty is furious that a player he helped develop has turned his back on progressing at Ibrox to earn more cash with a team which looks like slipping into Germany’s second tier.

He’s also angry that the news of Bates’ pre-contract has broken ahead of a massive Old Firm clash. But he insists it won’t detract from his preparations for tomorrow’s Scottish Cup showdown with Celtic at Hampden.

Murty said: “Let’s not beat around the bush, David has gone for more money than we can offer him and he could be playing in Bundesliga II next year.

Rangers manager Graeme Murty. Picture: SNS

“Hopefully they don’t go down and they stay in the Bundesliga but he is going for more money than we can give him here. That is the reality of it.

“So take emotion out of the situation, take the fact he is a Rangers supporter out of the situation, there is a load of money on the table. Extrapolate out of that what you will.

“We offered him a contract that we felt was good enough to see him stay. I am disappointed more than surprised that he hasn’t accepted it.

“The economic reality is they have come in and made an offer that we can’t match.

“Their demands for parity on that weren’t something we were prepared to match.

“What he wanted was excessive and it wasn’t something we could or were prepared to pay.

“Whether he has made a mistake will only be borne out by what happens in the future but he has taken the opportunity to go and expand his football knowledge elsewhere.

“I felt he could be an international footballer by remaining at Rangers and I put that to him.

“He has lots to work on and develop but I feel he could do that here. He will now move away from a fantastic club that have spent a lot of time on his development.

“We respect that, but it’s disappointing.

“We’ve played a really big part in David’s development, he’s worked extremely hard with a fantastic group of staff who have helped him.

“He’s chosen to move and that’s his prerogative.

“We will look elsewhere to strengthen. We would as a club be better served if we waited until after the semi-final to have that out in the public domain. That’s what we asked for but unfortunately the people we are dealing with did not respect that.”

Murty also insists Dave King’s letter to season ticket holders has not undermined him.

He said: “You have to deal with it. It was just a clarification to the season ticket holders who have come out and backed us fantastically well that someone will be appointed in the summer.”

Graeme Murty slams David Bates for leaving Rangers for more money