THE rebuilding job at Rangers is set to begin for Mark Warburton as he looks to complete his first deal since being appointed on Monday with the acquisition of Rob Kiernan, the Wigan Athletic defender.
The 24-year-old was expected to sign for English Championship side Birmingham City, where he spent the closing stages of last season on loan, but that deal fell through at the last minute yesterday. It has allowed Warburton to make his move and bring Kiernan, whom he worked with at former club Brentford two years ago, to Ibrox as he gets set to add to his squad for the first time this summer.
Kiernan started his career at Watford, where Warburton was on the youth coaching staff, and has had a series of loan moves that have taken him across the English lower leagues. Despite making 18 appearances for Wigan in the first half of the season, he was again allowed to leave the DW Stadium in January and went on to become a regular for Birmingham as they finished tenth in the Championship.
Warburton has already been linked with a potential move to bring Danny Wilson back to Ibrox following his decision to leave Hearts at the end of the season and a deal for Stuart Dallas, the Northern Ireland international currently on the books of his former club Brentford. It is Kiernan who is now set to become the first new face through the door at Ibrox, though, and his Latics team-mate, former Partick Thistle defender Aaron Taylor-Sinclair, is confident the defender will make a big impression back under Warburton's watch.
"He started the season under Uwe Rosler at Wigan and then he got the sack and Malky Mackay just wanted a fresh start so he went to Birmingham," he told Herald Sport. "By all accounts, he did well there as well.
"He is your modern-day centre-back, he is good with both feet and he is good on the ball. He is quite athletic as well. He likes to get the ball down and play and he likes to play out from the back. From what I have seen of Warburton's interviews, that is how he wants Rangers to play under him and David Weir. I am sure Rob will fit into that and do well there."
Wigan manager Gary Caldwell is planning for life in League One following relegation this season and was prepared to let Kiernan leave as he closed in on a permanent switch to Birmingham. A deal to take him back to St Andrews was almost completed before Birmingham pulled the plug for an unspecified reason. "Guys, it's football business," Panos Pavlakis, the Birmingham director said. "Agreement was reached with all related parties, medical took place but Club has now withdrawn its interest. We are already pursuing other targets."
Warburton will hope that Birmingham's loss is Rangers' gain as he attempts to strengthen a squad short on numbers and low on quality ahead of the new Championship campaign. Rangers have just 14 recognised first team players on their books at present after a summer clear-out saw several big names - including captain Lee McCulloch and striker Kris Boyd - leave the club when their contracts ended after the Premiership play-off final defeat to Motherwell last month.
Rangers play their first competitive game of the season on Saturday, July 25 in the Petrofac Training Cup and Warburton will discover who the opposition will be in his first Championship fixture when the SPFL fixtures are released tomorrow afternoon.
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