Did Mark Warburton live up to Rangers supremo’s hopes at Ibrox?
Rangers chairman Dave King
Rangers are on the verge of appointing Pedro Caixinha as manager, with SkyBet pricing him as overwhelming favourite.
It is exactly two years ago this week that Rangers were planning their successor to Ally McCoist, and club supremo Dave King was setting his agenda.
King targeted Brentford manager Mark Warburton and was able to land him, and two years ago, this is what he had to say.
He told Rangers’ official website: “My personal thought is that at this stage in the club’s history we need less of a manager and much more of a coach.
“We’re not going to go and buy a new team and tell someone to come and manage them, we need someone of a different set of skills to come in and build and develop and bring youngsters through so it’s an important position and we have to be very careful.”
“It’s a long road ahead and I think it takes a different type of manager. We’re not going to bring in a Dick Advocaat and say ‘we have a winning team you just have to manage it’ it’s a very different thing and we have to be smart about the individual we get in.”
Former Rangers manager Mark Warburton
Warburton helped Rangers achieve their immediate goal, by leading a promotion charge back to the top flight in his first season in charge, but he did not last his second season, losing his job last month.
Two years on from King’s comments, Rangers find themselves in a similar position.
They have another gap to bridge, and with Celtic 33 points ahead of them in the table, it will take an almighty effort to get close to them next season.
Pedro Caixinha is more experienced than Warburton, but he still has a big rebuilding job at hand.
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