MARK WARBURTON knows what it's like to walk into a dressing room as the supposed boss only to be met with at least one player wearing a ‘who the hell is this bloke?’ expression on his face.

Here was a guy with no real football background having quit a, one would imagine, not bad paying job in the City to give himself the opportunity to become a manager or a coach.

It’s an interesting story, certainly, but this is not the kind of CV which makes any footballer tug their forelock. It would be more a case of scrunching up their faces and asking, well, who the hell he was.

When last year Zinedine Zidane took over at Real Madrid, he didn't have any real managerial experience but he did get away with because he was rather good at the game as a player.

But when a manager is appointed, even in these more open-minded days, who hasn't played much or at all at the top level, there are going to be a few who requiring to be won over.

Ian Cathro is going to have to do just that at Hearts because of his age and for the fact he is a relative unknown. Warburton knows what that can feel. He was a nobody, in terms of football, someone who had worked with youth football having not made it as a player.

And while he may have had a few quid in the bank and been a success no matter how you judge such things, he admitted that convincing gnarled and experienced pros that he knew was he was doing had been a concern.

“This was at Watford,” recalled the Rangers manager. “I started coaching the 12s and 13s, then the 14s and 16s and it is only when you get to the reserves that you get the first team players coming down and you start to think: ‘if I get this one wrong, I’ll get dug out here.’

“You have to get it right and it challenges you. Then you realise that players want to enjoy what they do. They want relevant practice. When you realise that, you get over it very quickly and then you either sink or swim.”

“Personally, if you are taking the youth team and it is going well the message filters up and down. They tell the younger ones that the coaching is okay and the older ones that the coaching is okay. Words spreads quickly in football. You’ve just got to be organised, whatever job you’re in. You have to show a level of subject knowledge and if you can do that, you’ll be alright.”

Not so long ago, Warburton would have got nowhere near the Rangers job or any in football management. All bosses were ex-players. There were no exceptions. Then Arsene Wenger walked into Arsenal with barmy ideas about the squad not going on the booze four nights a week.

Warburton acknowledged there is a clear pathway now for the likes of himself to at least try out football management.

“You have easier access to the coaching qualifications now,” he said. “I’m not seeing it’s easier to get them but it is easier to get on the courses. People with different playing backgrounds are getting on the courses and they’re benefitted from them.

“It’s changing in that man-management is a far bigger part of it now. Whether you work on a building site or whatever your background might well, as long as you organise and get the environment right and they feel they are enjoying the work they do, I think you’re in a good place.

“I think players are more accepting. They are coming through academies and they are having a broader education. They ask more questions and if you can answer them, you are in a good place.

“Twenty years ago they’d be told to drink a protein drink and they’d do it without questioning it. Now they want to know what it’s made up of and why they should be drinking it. That’s great - they should be asking questions. The academy system is producing more knowledgeable players.”

Warburton’s team face Hearts on Saturday, ten days after they were given a bit of a going over at Tynecastle. One criticism laid at the door of Warburton was that his team weren’t strong, something he wasn’t having.

“I don't agree with that,” he said. “I read people say we were outstanding against Aberdeen. We weren't outstanding with the football and the stats tell us that.

"We had the second lowest passing stats of the season but it's about the result. It's a results-driven but we also want to be purposeful and have control of the football. But look at the Hearts game. We weren't pulling out of challenges and being shy in the tackle.

"On the night, they were better. We hold our hands up. Everyone has a bad day at the office. We were poor, no excuses, but we were much better against Aberdeen and we want to be better again.”

Winning back-to-back matches would come in handy, especially as Hearts will be one of the sides challenging hard for second spot.

“If we can get a run together, it changes the picture,” said Warburton. “That’s the case in any league. If you get four or five wins, then the whole landscape changes.”