THE Ibrox odyssey is all but over. After four years of wandering in the wilderness of Scottish lower league football, Rangers' journey is approaching its destination. Victory against Raith Rovers at Stark's Park on Saturday, coupled with Hibs failing to beat St Mirren, would be sufficient to see the Ibrox club confirm their rejuvenation as part of Scotland's elite. Should any part of that equation fail, the jackpot will rollover instead to the home meeting with Dumbarton on Tuesday evening.
It has been quite a trip but Mark Warburton knows he is something of an interloper. As critical as his input in the last 12 months or so has been, the Englishman admits he was late to climb aboard. It gives him only an inkling of the emotions of the club's longer-suffering fans in what has been a voyage of discovery as much as anything else.
"What I don't want to do is say 'I understand how the fans feel'," said Warburton. "I wasn't here before, for the remainder of the four years, so it would be wrong for me to say that. But I did get a sense of the turmoil and the pain they have gone through for the last four or five years. So it would be great for the players here to be part of the team that takes the club back to the top flight. That would be the most pleasing thing. Then hopefully the supporters can enjoy that moment and then we build again for next season."
Warburton likes to start his sentences with the phrase 'very respectively' and this certainly applies to the management staff - Ally McCoist, Kenny McDowall and Stuart McCall - who took their part of the strain along the way. But in truth Warburton has had a transformative effect on the culture of this club, right up from the selection of food being served up in the canteen to the style of football being served up on the park. "You want to put your own fingerprint on it and do what you think it’s right," he said. "It’s not a criticism, it’s just what’s works for you."
He is also at pains to point out that this is a team, not individual effort, but considering they were level on points with Hibs at Christmas before a pivotal 4-2 win against their nearest challengers at Ibrox, Warburton will be entitled to feel pretty good about clinching the title while the Easter eggs are still being eaten. While others were wavering, he insisted his belief in the players remained intact throughout.
“I didn’t anticipate or target a date to win the league," he said. "The job at the start of the season was very clear - we had to win the championship. There were no grey areas and no options of finishing second or third, we had to win the league. Other teams were putting runs together before the turn of the year but we always had our noses in front and we weren’t playing badly. We drew a couple of games but I wasn’t worried about that.
“What the Hibs win did at the end of December was reinforce the belief of the players in terms of how good they can be and how they can dominate teams. We’ve been in good form for most of the season, we’ve had one or two blips but you learn from them. This is a sharp group. I’ve spoken to Lee Wallace and Kenny Miller and the senior professionals tell me it’s one of the best groups they’ve ever worked with."
There is little point then trying to shield them from the realisation that they are closing in on a piece of history. The corridors of Murray Park are adorned with images of famous former Rangers players and Warburton will commission one of this current squad if and when they get over the line.
“We are within touching distance now and it certainly feels like that," said Warburton. "It would be foolish to tell the players anything other than that. Kirkcaldy is a tough place to go against a good team in a rich vein of form. It doesn’t matter where or when, we just want to get the job done."
Smartphones rather than transistor radios are part of match day kit these days so there is no point attempting to shield his players from events simultaneously unfolding at the Paisley 2021 stadium. “I’m sure the fans will let us know what’s going on elsewhere but we can’t allow ourselves to worry about that," he said.
The Englishman says he "believes in organisation" and "likes to plan the month ahead” but in fact his mind is already whirring further ahead than that. Martyn Waghorn is "increasing his loading" as he rehabilitates from a knee problem but the potential rewards of him playing against Celtic on April 17 will be weighed against the risk of him suffering a setback and missing next season. Contract talks for many members of his squad are already under way, with a new deal for winger Harry Forrester imminent.
The odyssey is all but over. But whatever happens in the next few days, Rangers' return journey to the pinnacle of the Scottish game still has a distance to travel.
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