MARK WARBURTON has insisted he and Rangers had acted properly over the acquisition of Accrington Stanley pair Josh Windass and Matt Crooks despite what the League Two club have claimed over recent days.

The Rangers manager also defended the purchase of Harry Forrester who was described by the winger's former coach at Kilmarnock, Kenny Shiels, as not the kind of player the Ibrox club should be going for.

And on a day of people inside Ibrox standing up for themselves, Forrester himself hit back at the criticism by Shiels.

Andy Holt, the Accrington Stanley owner, has on social media questioned how Rangers went about their business, especially because his manager, John Coleman, was apparently not called by anyone at Ibrox throughout the process.

However, Warburton felt he had done nothing wrong regarding his two new signings, who will stay at the English outfit until the end of this season.

He said: "We’ve acted within the letter of the law, so to speak. It is what it is. What goes around comes around. It happens many times in different situations to many people. The club have acted perfectly responsibility and appropriately in the situation.

"It’s about going about our business in what we feel is the right way in this situation. Everyone has an opinion in football - that’s the beauty of the game - but we’re comfortable with the fact we hope we acted in the right manner. We have followed due process and procedure, and that’s the end result.

"Other managers will tell you, and I take phone calls from other managers and coaches when they are targeting our players. I do the same and they are always private phone calls. You try to explain what you do and why you’re doing it, in the appropriate manner.

"We’ve dealt with it the right way. We’ve got the result we wanted and the players we wanted. We hope they go back to Accrington and fight for the play-offs and have a good season."

Warburton would not say whether he had spoken to Coleman saying that it was a private matter and was also reluctant to discuss a move for Brentford midfielder Toumani Diagouraga, although Andy Halliday, Jason Holt and Barrie McKay are all discussing new deals.

Forrester, who could feature in the Scottish Cup tie against Cowdenbeath on Sunday, is a player Warburton has known for a long time and he had no time for the comments made by the talkative Shiels.

“If you listen to everyone’s opinion, you would drive yourself nuts. It is his opinion and he is more than entitled to it," said the Rangers manager.

“The fact is that I completely disagree with him. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have signed Harry. Without being arrogant, it is my opinion which counts right now, not his. Harry is a Rangers player, I know what he can do."

Asked if he could remember Shiels from his brief spell at Rugby Park, Forrester said: "He was a coach, yeah?!" And added: "That was a long time ago, I can’t really remember to be honest. I remember Mixu (Paatelainen). He was a good manager.

"As a footballer, day in day out you have got a point to prove. Comments from other people don’t really faze me. Everyone is entitled to their opinion.

"I have not played a lot of football over the last three months, so I have got a point to prove to try and get in the team."