MARK WARBURTON clicks the fingers of his right hand. It is the most accurate way to convey just how much time it can take to make the difference between nailing down a transfer and seeing one of your major targets slip from your grasp during the madness of the January window.

“It can be that quick,” reasons the Rangers manager.

These transactions worth hundreds of thousands of pounds really do hinge, it seems, on snap decisions and the machine that makes deals happen is starting to rumble into life within the bowels of Murray Park as the reopening of the market draws nearer.

Targets have been identified, conversations are taking place. For Warburton, though, the most important thing of all is to have a structure in place that allows business to be done in the blink of an eye when a rival is trying to steal a player from under your nose.

He speaks every day with Stewart Robertson, the managing director, and Andrew Dickson, head of football administration, and insists the events of the summer have convinced him Rangers really are ready to strike quickly and battle hard in what is a thoroughly ruthless environment.

“In recruitment, very often it’s about having a structure in place that allows you to move quickly,” said Warburton. “Twenty clubs can identify the same player and, when the opportunity arises, there might be one little window.

“It can’t be: ‘I’ll come back to you tomorrow morning’.

“We had a concern at the start of the season.

“Are we going to be quick enough? That was a question for me and David Weir.

“They proved that we did have that in place and we were able to move quickly enough.

“We lost a player at our previous club who was driving from the medical to sign the contract because the phone call came in. Whether it is a financial offer or because the wife is not sure, it is that quick.

“You can have a player doing a medical, en route to do a medical, en route to sign contracts.

“You have to man-mark the guy, literally, from the station to the medical to the ground to get him to sign. You have to. You are always wary. You know how the game works.”

Warburton has used those tactics to his own advantage, too. Rob Kiernan had gone through a medical at Birmingham City and was planning to sign a contract the following day when Rangers called him and put together his £200,000 transfer from Wigan Athletic.

“That is an example,” conceded Warburton. “Likewise, people such as Martyn Waghorn, Wes Foderingham and Andy Halliday had people interested in them.

“If you delay and dither and take the extra hour or the extra day, you run the risk of losing the players. That is how it works.

“People have the view that it is this long, slow process. It’s not. It may be many, many weeks building up to it with your homework and your background checks, but, when it comes to the green light, you have to get the job done quickly.”

Of course, there is a possibility that Rangers may have to fend off interest in certain players. James Tavernier has been very impressive at right-back while his former Wigan Athletic team-mate Martyn Waghorn already has 17 goals to his credit.

“All we have to do is make this the best place so they want to stay here,” said Warburton. “Where else can they experience playing in front of 45 to 50,000? At very few clubs.

“A player only goes if he says he wants to go. There are examples down south of clubs willing to pay £3m or £4m more, but the player didn't want to go.

“If you are a young guy in any job and someone offers you four or five times your basic wage, that is a tough ask if you have kids and are married.

“We understand that. Our job is as a club is to make sure we get the right price if that 'what if?' scenario does occur.”

Tavernier, mind you, has insisted he has no intention of going anywhere. He is enjoying life in Glasgow, having just moved his family here, and is determined to return Rangers to the European arena before taking any kind of look at his longer-term future.

“The club has shown faith in me by bringing me here, so I want to show good respect to them,” said the 24-year-old.

“My ambition is to put this club where it belongs — in the top flight. This club also needs to be in Europe and that’s where I want to play for it.

“We want to be able to compete with teams from the top leagues and that’s my main ambition in the short-term.

“Later down the line, if the club decides to sell me, there will be a decision if I want to leave.”

Warburton, meanwhile, is preparing himself for his first annual general meeting as manager in Glasgow on Friday and has vowed to answer any enquiries shareholders may have over the work that he is overseeing behind the scenes in the football department at Rangers.

“I’ll just be honest,” he stated. “There are no secrets. Nothing to hide. If they ask a question and I’m allowed to answer it, I will.”