MARK WARBURTON is set to be unveiled as Rangers manager today after agreeing a three-year deal to take office at Ibrox.
He will be joined at the club by David Weir, the former Rangers captain and his assistant manager at Championship side Brentford.
The former Bees boss has been the front-runner for the position for several weeks and first held discussions with the Rangers board last month as a five-man shortlist was compiled. After that was whittled down, Warburton, the preferred option of many Rangers supporters, became the first choice for the board and he is now poised to sign on the dotted line at Ibrox.
Warburton will meet the media for the first time this afternoon and will look to quickly get down to work ahead of what will be a frantic few weeks ahead of the new season. Rangers are scheduled to begin their season with a Petrofac Training Cup first round tie on Saturday, July 25 before they will begin their League Cup campaign the following weekend. On August 8, Warburton and Weir will lead Rangers in league duty for the first time as they start their bid to win the Championship title this term.
Rangers last week released several players at the end of their contracts, while chairman Dave King revealed there will be no 'upper limit' to the budget set this summer as the board take a long term view to their recruitment process. As well as building a squad that will win them the Championship, Rangers are also planning for their return to the Premiership and King has set a target of selling 45,000 season tickets to help fund the rebuilding job.
Amongst those who have left the club in recent days are Lee McCulloch, the captain, midfielder Ian Black and strikers Kris Boyd and Jon Daly after a season that saw Rangers finish third in the Championship before eventually missing out on promotion.
"They need to get players in now - they have let myself and another 10 players go - so he needs to get them in and over the line," Daly said.
"There's still some quality players there and good experienced players like Lee Wallace and Kenny Miller and a lot of young pros.
"Boys like Tom Walsh and Ryan Hardie have had a little taste of it this season and next season might be the year they kick on."
The appointment of Warburton brings an end to a lengthy search for Rangers that has seen the likes of Ian Cathro, the Scot who last week stepped down as assistant manager of Valencia, and Aberdeen boss Derek McInnes linked with a potential move to Ibrox. Stuart McCall, who replaced interim boss Kenny McDowall in March, was also in the running to land the job on a permanent basis despite seeing his side defeated 6-1 by Motherwell in the Premiership play-off final last month.
Portuguese coach Vitor Pereira also held discussions with the board but cooled his interest in making the move to Scotland in the aftermath of Rangers' defeat at Fir Park that saw them consigned to another season in the Championship. Pereira was sacked by Olympiakos last week before being named the new manager of Fenerbahce.
Warburton has always been the favourite with bookmakers to land the Gers job, however, and has previously spoken positively about the chance for him and Weir to work at Ibrox. "From my point of view they are a massive club," Warburton said last month. "I have huge respect for the size of the club and the fan base at Rangers. Who wouldn't? I am well aware of the tradition and history of the club so I would never be anything other than absolutely respectful of a club of that stature."
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