Former Brentford FC manager Mark Warburton confirmed this week that he has held ‘informal’ talks about managing Rangers next season.

In the interview with BBC Scotland, Warburton stated:

“It’s important to see if there’s a chemistry, the parties get on and your football philosophies are aligned.”

That shows that the fifty-two year old has a shrewd head on his shoulders. He also points out that Rangers needed a long term plan and shouldn’t look to anyone just for a quick fix.

So it seems that Warburton knows all about the Gers situation and isn’t daunted by it.

He appeals to Rangers because of his success at Brentford, where he guided them to promotion into the English Championship in 2014 and reached the play-offs of the Championship this past season.

Mark is also high on promoting youth players who are ready for the first team and blooding them into his squads. In 2011, he helped create the NextGen Series which saw youth teams from top Eurpopean clubs fight it out. When that tournament ended and he became boss for the ‘Bees’, Mark would sign talent on loan that had shown promise in the NextGen Series.

Those links and contacts that Warburton created during the NextGen process could be invaluable for Rangers, who desperately need a new coach that has a better understanding of young stars available from European and talented players from England’s lower leagues.

It will be extremely important that the next Gers boss makes the most of Murray Park and that Rangers fans see more younger home-grown players coming through and doing well in the first team.

It’s also worth pointing out that if Rangers do appoint Mark Warburton, they wouldn’t be getting a manager who had failed in his last post.

If anything Mark probably overachieved with Brentford securing fifth place in the Championship down south. He was let go due to a disagreement with ‘Bees’ owner Matthew Benham over the clubs future direction. The owner wants to use more statistical analysis to recruit players, Warburton didn’t. It’s as simple as that.

It shows that Warburton has conviction, confidence and spirit that he chose to walkaway from a job and not bow down to pressure from above. Those are characteristics that Rangers need at the moment.

A lot of people will be pointing to Warburton’s number two David Weir and suggest that this could be a great double act for the club. But it’s important that Mark is seen as the number one guy and that the board nor the fans look beyond his tenureship. We don’t want Weir to become the next Ally McCoist in waiting! Davie will be there to create a bond with the players and help Mark adapt to life at Ibrox.

I believe the Rangers board would still need to hire a new director of football to oversee things like contracts, set up the new scouting network and sorting out all the youth sides.

But Mark Warburton certainly has the ability and the hunger to succeed at Rangers. He really could come in and turn everything around for the better.

Gers chairman Dave King will need to act fast. The Scottish summer break isn’t that long and the squad needs to be freshened up substantially, if its to move forward.

Plus with Sunderland sniffing around Sean Dyche, don’t be surprised if Mark Warburton is in Burnley’s thoughts for next season too.

Posted on June 4th, 2015 by scott
Filed under: Article