MARK Warburton received a hat in the mail the other day. He cannot confirm if it is magic or not, as the song about him claims, but it was another indication to him of the sheer intensity and passion that has greeted him since becoming manager of Rangers.
The former City trader who rejuvenated Brentford after coming late to football coaching was always honest enough to acknowledge that he knew little about the Ibrox club and Scottish football in general.
However, as he prepares to face Hibernian the team likely to be his side’s closest Ladbrokes Championship challengers – today with the chance to pull six points clear of them he is more understanding of the situation now. “I have been surprised by the 24/7 nature of it and the sheer scale,” he said. “The fans don’t switch off and they are so passionate.
“I met a couple of guys the other day and their knowledge of the club was frightening. They would reel off teams from 10-20 years ago and knew all about the history of the club. Everything is about Rangers.
“Down south it wasn’t quite as intense as that – even in the big rivalries like Arsenal-Tottenham, City-United, I’ve never found it to have the same intensity. I received a hat through the post which was quite intriguing. So I’m aware of the song. The hat was interesting but not one I would put in front of the cameras.”
Warburton could hardly have had a better start to his Rangers career than the 6-2 win over Hibs at Easter Road and the momentum is building. Ibrox is sold-out for today’s match but Warbuton is keen to keep a lid on expectations, although it was probably a good selling point when trying to acquire the services of Gedion Zelalem, the Arsenal teenager who will watch the match before completing the paperwork on a loan move.
Warburton said: “I think you look around the league and it’s one where anyone can beat anyone else on the day. I think that was proven by Hibs’ first game when they lost to Dumbarton.
“There are dangerous fixtures out there, there are different surfaces, inclement weather.
“I don’t think Sunday’s game is about the 6-2 defeat. They will want to come and beat Rangers because it’s three points. They will want to win the game, put on a good show on TV and it’s a packed Ibrox so we have to be best prepared, be as good as we can be and, if we are, we’ll be OK.”
Midfielder Jason Holt is relishing the prospect of the occasion and he feels this Rangers team can run away with the title in much the same way Hearts did last season when he was a contributor in the first half of it.
“With the ability in the squad, I don’t see why not,” Holt said. “But it’s down to us as players and the whole togetherness of the squad to keep working extremely hard on the training field.
“I think if you do that day in, day out then you’ll get the rewards. The hard work on the training field paid off for Hearts obviously. If you are willing to put in the hours and hard work, you get the rewards.”
Holt was let go by Hearts in the summer having spent the second half of the season on loan with Sheffield United.
However, he has become a major force in Warburton’s team and being a veteran of a few Edinburgh derbies he is relishing a game against Hibs.
He said: “Since the first day I came in here I’ve been really impressed with the way the coaching staff have gone about things.
“I think that’s shown on the park. I was confident it would click quickly, actually. As soon as I saw the stuff we were doing on the training park I knew it was good straight away and it was clicking together very quickly. I knew if we took that on to the pitch we would get some good results and that been the case so far. All the players know their roles inside out and I think that’s a good thing.
“I think communication is about taking in what the manager wants and doing it on the training field and taking it into the game.
“This has quickly become a close-knit squad, there’s a real togetherness. We know how each other play.
“It’s been a pleasure to play in this team. All the boys have done really well. We’ve had a great start but we just need to keep up the hard work.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel