WARBURTON SET FOR SPYING TRIP
MARK Warburton may have more in mind for his working weekend after tomorrow evening’s Premiership visit to Kilmarnock.
Banking victory at Rugby Park, which would be Rangers’ third league win in a row, remains the obvious and immediate priority. Fulfilling that aim would lift the Ibrox side on to ten points from the opening four games of their top-flight return.
It would also, not insignificantly, ensure Warburton’s side will travel to Parkhead on September 10 with some form of advantage.
The extent of that possible points lead — aided by Celtic postponing a game to play in the International Champions Cup — would then be defined by how Aberdeen fare in Glasgow’s east end on Saturday.
Warburton is not ruling out a personal visit to Celtic Park to aid his preparations for the first Old Firm league meeting in more than four years.
But while the 53-year-old is well aware of the public frenzy that will accompany the countdown to that clash, he remains adamant he will not allow his thoughts to drift until after the assignment in Ayrshire.
‘I watched Celtic last night on TV,’ said Warburton, referring to their nervy Champions League qualifier against Hapoel Be’er Sheva.
‘I was at our Under-20s game, but I recorded it and watched it when I came in. But I watch every one of their games — I watched them against St Johnstone at the weekend, as well.
‘It’s not just about Celtic, of course. I know you guys say that, but it’s the same three points that are available at Kilmarnock on Friday night.
‘I’m sure there are fans who are saying: “Lose your first four games but beat Celtic”, but it’s about accumulating as many points as possible.’
Warburton didn’t watch Celtic in person prior to last season’s Scottish Cup semi-final success over Ronny Deila’s team.
Asked whether he would now go to Parkhead to see first-hand how they were taking shape under Brendan Rodgers, he replied: ‘I might dip in there, but we already have a lot of coverage and I always have games watched by people I trust implicitly. But if it’s right for me to go then, of course, I will.
‘Sometimes, of course, it’s better going yourself, but I hate it when I see people going along just for the sake of it.
‘My job is here, trying to do it as best as I can. So if I’m travelling somewhere and I get home at one in the morning and then get back up at half-past four and I’m not ready to deliver the quality of product here, then I won’t do it. I’ll send someone else.
‘But the coverage of their game on Tuesday night, with the replays that you can pause and rewind, allow me to look at the positions the players take up, which you can’t always see when you’re there because it happens and then it’s gone.
‘The coverage from Sky and BT is magnificent and it’s great to have that facility.’
Celtic’s progression to the Champions League proper for the first time in three seasons will boost their bank balance by upwards of at least £22million.
Warburton has already claimed not to be scared by that windfall, believing it is less about the scale of the resources than how they are managed.
As it is, Rodgers will now have to deal with at least six fixtures against genuinely elite opposition.
Warburton, though, is sceptical about those potentially distracting demands providing any kind of benefit to Rangers in terms of the title race.
‘I wouldn’t have thought so, but it’s not my job to talk about Brendan and Celtic,’ added the Rangers manager.
‘It’s good for Scottish football that they got through to the group stage, but I can’t control anything away from here. Our job has to be focused on Rangers.
‘Is the Champions League a problem I’d like to have? At some stage, absolutely. Then you have to get the squad to deal with those problems and the big clubs do that.
‘They have the strength in depth to deal with the difficulties thrown up by those types of high-quality games, but getting there has got to be our long-term aim.
‘Are we ready to win the title? That is the obvious question because, if you do that, then you’re in the qualifying rounds.
‘So we’ve got to make sure we’re more than highly-competitive. We’re three games in and we’ve had a decent start. I’m very comfortable with what we’ve got available in terms of the squad.’ While Warburton may be reluctant to pass comment on their city rivals, summer signing Joey Barton very clearly is not. Having taken a cheeky swipe at Rodgers’ appearance last week, the Rangers midfielder informed his 3.2million Twitter followers of his thoughts on Celtic reaching the group stage despite a 2-0 defeat in Israel.
He linked a clip from the film Snatch: in which Vinnie Jones growls ‘You lucky b ***** d’.
That meant more questions for Warburton about the 33-year-old’s conduct away from the pitch, which seems to be generating greater debate than his early performances on it.
‘Joey’s an intelligent individual and I’m sure what he said was a tongue-in-cheek comment and that no rational mind would see it as anything other than that,’ said Warburton.
‘If we feel that anything he does is inappropriate, we’ll tell him. No player or member of staff here has free rein — everyone must do what’s best for Rangers Football Club and I’m sure there was no malice intended there.
‘Is Joey not focused on his football? He’s an intelligent person on social media and there was no disrespect there.’