TALKING RANGERS

serious level and it looked like it was going to happen.

“I assured Warbo and said that Joey was excellent for us. He was good round the group, he bought into Burnley and the culture of the club and he delivered on t he pitch.

“Whatever anyone has to say about Joey, nobody can question his performances for us last year. He was excellent.

“I think it was a really good year for many reasons, it was good for us but it was good for him as well. He was great for us on the pitch, but it was good for him because people said ‘you know what, he is a serious professional and a very g o o d player’. “There are bits and bobs in his life that are spoken about and he is thought of different, but last season I think he did a lot for himself as well.

“He is a serious player, he was very effective, and forgetting all the rest of it, he is a very good footballer. He certainly delivered for us.”

THE deal for Barton is the most high-profile bit of business that has been done at Ibrox, and in our game, ahead of the new Premiership campaign.

It was a statement of intent from Warburton and one which he has followed up as he has bolstered his squad with a total of nine new faces ahead of the big kick-off.

And Dyche insists he wasn’t surprised that the Gers were able to pull off a coup to land Barton before completing deals for former Premier League stars Clint Hill and Niko Kranjcar.

He said: “I think people forget that Rangers are a huge club and they will have a level of finance that is better than, not everyone, but a lot of clubs.

“That is helpful but I don’t mean that Joey went up there for that reason because he quite obviously didn’t and he made that clear to me.

“It is a massive club. I don’t know Scottish football that well, but as a kid I grew up with Rangers and Celtic, all that goes with those clubs and the history and I got my taste of it last season with Burnley.

“Even in that game there were 22,000 there for a friendly. Rangers are a big club and players will gravitate towards that so it is not a surprise that they can attract good players.”