Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Warburton: Unrealistic expectations ‘killed us’
FORMER Rangers manager Mark Wa rbu rton cla i ms h is “hea rt sank” when he walked out for the club’s first Ladbrokes Premiership game and he witnessed the vast ‘Going for 55’ display.
Promotion under Warburton to the top-flight months earlier, combined with a Scottish Cup semi-final win over Celtic, had fuelled optimism among fans the club could continue where they left off when Rangers went into liquidation in 2012 with 54 titles to their name.
But ahead of the start of the 201617 season, the former Brentford boss privately despaired over what he felt were unrealistic aims.
Warburton said: “There were lots of highs, getting back to the Premiership but for me, when we walked out for that ‘Going for 55’ in that first game against Hamilton, my heart sank. That wasn’t the message.
“The fans were rocking, they lit the blue touch paper, we were going to win the league. We weren’t.
“We weren’t going to win the league – it was up, consolidate, build the squad.
“I just felt that message was wrong from day one. The stadium looked magnificent but they weren’t going to win the title.
“You can’t say that at the start of a season, it sounds negative, but the squad was young, it was being built. It wasn’t ready, it was building to consolidate for Rangers to challenge again in year three.
“I walked back into my office and Davie Weir said: ‘What on earth is that?’
“Had it said ‘Great to be back’, that type of message, anything but ‘Going for 55’ because immediately the fans were just in raptures and that to me killed us from the outset.”