MARK Warburton was last night warned he must retain the Scottish identity of his Rangers team in order to challenge Celtic for the Ladbrokes Premiership next season.

Warburton has wasted little time in preparing for a tilt at the Scottish title since clinching promotion to the top flight with victory in the Championship back in April.

He has brought in teenage midfielder Jordan Rossiter from Liverpool and pulled off a major transfer coup by securing the services of the vastly experienced Joey Barton.

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On top of those two acquisitions, Accrington Stanley duo Matt Crooks and Josh Windass were signed on pre-contract agreements back in January.

Warburton, who worked in a variety of roles in his native England with Watford and Brentford before moving to Scotland last summer, has also been linked with several other players down south.

They include veteran Queens Park Rangers defender Clint Hill, former Croatian internationalist Niko Kranjcar and Walsall striker Tom Bradshaw.

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Elsewhere, Nicky Clark, Nicky Law, Dean Shiels and David Templeton, whose contracts at Ibrox all expired at the end of last month, have been released. Meanwhile, Cammy Bell, the former Kilmarnock goalkeeper, has been tipped to join relegated Dundee United in the coming weeks.

On top of that, Ian Durrant, the Rangers great who was coaching the under-20 side at Auchenhowie, has been told his services are no longer required.

Scott Nisbet, who played for Rangers during the Nine-In-A-Row era in the 1980s and 1990s, believes it is crucial that Warburton retains a Scottish spine to his side to ensure success in the 2016/17 campaign.

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“It’s important to keep the Scottish feel to the Rangers team,” he said. “The team I played in had a lot of great English players - Trevor Steven, Mark Hateley, Ray Wilkins and Nigel Spackman were all at Ibrox at that time.

“But when we played in the Champions League the majority of the side was Scottish because UEFA had the three foreigner rule at that time. But we still had a great team. We went undefeated in the Champions League in the 1992/93 season. It is very important for Rangers to keep that Scottish connection.

“Back then, they had myself, Ian Durrant, Ian Ferguson, Ally McCoist, Richard Gough, John Brown, Andy Goram. They were guys who all knew what Rangers were about, who grew up supporting the team, who were fulfilling lifelong dreams when they put that jersey on and ran out the tunnel at Ibrox in front of 50,000 people.

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“It is very important for the club to have Rangers people involved. They have John Greig as their honorary president, Richard Gough, too, is an ambassador for Rangers and he goes all around the world in that role.

“Kenny Miller knows what Rangers is about, Lee Wallace knows what Rangers is about, Andy Halliday knows what Rangers are all about and Davie Weir knows what Rangers is about. It is massive to keep that connection at Rangers.

“They will be going up into the Premiership next season and will be playing the likes of Aberdeen at Pittodrie, Celtic at Parkhead and Hearts at Tynecastle. Having guys who have been there before and can show the new boys what playing for Rangers is all about will be important to them.

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“The foreign players who came to Rangers when I was there often didn’t realise how big a club it was. It isn’t just that they dominate domestically and have huge crowds either. Rangers is a worldwide brand.

“But my point is that the Scottish lads were able to take the players who arrived from England and other countries and explain to them what is required and what to expect. It is important to have that at a club.”

Nisbet, who now runs the Lanzarote Soccer School at the Princess Yaiza Hotel in Playa Blanca, believes the current Rangers signing policy is the correct one for the Ibrox club to have in place.

“Too often in the past Rangers bought players for millions of pounds who only played 10 or 15 games and then left having pocketed a lot of money,” he said. “Players were coming to Rangers looking for a quick pay day.

“There was crazy money getting splashed around. At the end of the day, that’s what cost Rangers and led to all their financial troubles. They have to take a different approach now and are doing so.”