STEWART ROBERTSON, the Rangers Managing Director, is ‘relaxed’ about Mark Warburton’s contract situation following discussions over an improved deal for the Ibrox boss.
Warburton is twelve months into a three year deal with Rangers but has held talks with the board over fresh terms after an encouraging first campaign that saw his side win the Championship title and Petrofac Training Cup and reach the Scottish Cup final.
After returning from a holiday and completing his Pro-Licence course at St George’s Park, Warburton confirmed that negotiations would resume as he continues his preparations for the new Premiership campaign, and Robertson is comfortable with the situation as it stands at present.
“Everything has been fairly low key,” Robertson said. “There’s been nothing for us to get too excited about to be honest! As Mark said he’s been on holiday, and if one guy deserved a holiday it’s been Mark over the past 12 months because he’s put a fair shift in over the last 12 months. We were relaxed about that and we will take things forward.
“That’ the reality of football there are always rumours and speculation. When you know what’s actually happening you take an element of it with a pinch of salt, although you don’t want the fans to get the wrong impression. But it’s never been anything we’ve been too excited about.
“It’s fluid. The boys are away to the States on Monday so that’ll be them away for another ten days. While there will be dialogue going on, that’s not the environment to have those sort of conversations. Everyone’s relaxed about it, you can see that Mark is relaxed about it. It’s not something we are getting concerned about.”
Boss Warburton may not have yet put pen-to-paper on a new deal but he has been busy ensuring that a handful of players have in recent weeks as he strengthens his squad for a shot at the Premiership title next term.
Midfielder Niko Kranjcar became the sixth arrival of the summer at Ibrox when he completed a move from New York Cosmos on Thursday and Robertson is pleased with the progress that has been made so far this summer.
“[Mark] has been working hard in the background,” he said. “It’s not always easy to bring players in, a lot of factors have to come together and a lot of stars have to line up. We’re pleased with what we’ve done so far but there is more business to come.
“We had a really good young team last year, an exciting team, we knew that would be the core of the squad for the Premiership but we knew we needed a bit more experience to come in. It’ll be a tougher schedule of games this year and up against older and wiser heads. We need the balance of younger and more experienced guys.”
The deal to bring Kranjcar to Ibrox follows the acquisitions of his former Queen’s Park Rangers team-mates Joey Barton and Clint Hill, while Matt Crooks, Josh Windass and Jordan Rossiter have also signed on the dotted line ahead of the big kick-off.
Rangers will look to provide a challenge to Celtic at the top of the Premiership at the first attempt next season as the rebuilding work continues on and off the field at Ibrox following a turbulent few years.
Robertson has played a key role in that effort thus far and he will now look to add his worth to the SPFL board after confirming he will stand for election as a Premiership representative next month.
“I feel we have got a good board at Rangers, we have got a lot to add and I think it would be great to see some more positivity in Scottish football,” Robertson said. “We need to get positive messages out there to market the game positively. Some of our signings – Joey (Barton) for example – and Celtic bringing in Brendan Rodgers, the game is more sellable.
“We are not where we were during the Dick Advocaat and Martin O’Neill era but we are getting to a stage where we can sell it again and people are more interested again. I have got experience of standing.
“I have been there twice before and I understand the issues smaller clubs are confronted with through my time at Motherwell. I like to think I can come and look at it not just with a Rangers view but what can help the game from the SPFL’s perspective. How can we improve communication, for example? It is a consistent message from clubs. There have got to be ways we can look at getting our message across.”
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