WARBURTON’S MEN KEEPING UP A UNITED FRONT FOR DERBY CLASH
Warburton declares that squad harmony will keep Rangers driving for success
HE didn’t mention him by name. He didn’t have to. The conclusions to be drawn were no less stark as a consequence. Joey Barton is now the name Mark Warburton dare not speak. While the finer details of the errant Liverpudlian’s severance package from Rangers remains a live issue, that is likely to remain the case for some time to come.
Perhaps one day the Rangers boss will lay bare his thoughts on the matter. A man who repeatedly preached the need to ensure no bad apples soured the bunch, the Ibrox manager’s thought process upon shaking hands last summer with a player possessing such a colourful past will be fascinating.
What can be taken as read, however, is that since Barton revealed himself as a draining presence in the dressing room by clashing with its de-facto spokesman in Andy Halliday, Warburton has done all he can to lessen the damage.
Now almost five weeks into an ongoing suspension, it’s plain that 34-year-old Barton has long since reached the point of no return.
His Twitter handle has removed all traces of Rangers and, from the club’s perspective, the sooner the divorce is made official, the better.
If the financial implications of settling with a player still sitting on a contract worth around £1.6million are considerable, the man who sanctioned the deal at least feels it will cast no shadow on his side’s attempt to defeat Celtic in tomorrow’s Betfred League Cup semi-final at Hampden.
‘There is a unity and there has to be,’ Warburton insisted. ‘That was one of our strengths last year.
‘We had a heated debate this morning on the training pitch because that’s how you keep demanding high standards. The easy thing to do is to just sit there and say: “That’s fine”.
‘You won’t win anything by just accepting average. What we have to do is keep getting better and better.
‘There will be good days and bad but if we can improve the consistency of our performance, we’ll be okay.
‘What we do out on that training pitch is the key. The game itself is a consequence of what you do in training.’ If the Barton situation is something Warburton could easily have avoided, the loss of Niko Kranjcar to injury is clearly a matter he could do nothing about.
Regardless of the respective reasons, the fact the Rangers boss is devoid of two of his blue-chip summer signings is galling.
Four years on from financial meltdown, every penny at the club remains a prisoner.
Big investments simply have to be realised. Warburton needs no-one to tell him why.
Celtic’s prudence before, during and after the events of 2012 have elevated them to a different plane financially to their city rivals — one that will take a long time to close.
If football were all about the money, there might be an acceptance of Rangers lagging behind Celtic for some time to come.
However, Warburton was not hired just to get Rangers onto the podium. Somehow he has to shrug off the financial imbalance and get them winning again.
‘In terms of budget, I’d imagine the gap is two or three times,’ he added. ‘They (Celtic) are playing in the Champions League, gaining valuable European experience and they also have a very good squad packed with international players.
‘But I have total belief in my own squad of players and that’s all I can affect. Our squad is getting better and better. Our players have gelled. We have a number back from injury and, on the day, it’s down to how we play.
‘We were pleased with the performance last Friday (at Inverness) and you can see we are improving.
‘The fallout to the last game (against Celtic) didn’t surprise me. We lost 5-1 and things weren’t going to be smelling of roses.
‘What people didn’t talk about was the sending-off (of Rangers defender Philippe Senderos). But we learn from it.’
Warburton has only experienced two Old Firm games in his 17 months in Glasgow but is entitled to talk about the fixture with some authority.
If that defeat at Celtic Park last month proved the low point of his Ibrox tenure, a victory on penalties at Hampden in April was its crowning moment.
Which begs one obvious question. If a disparity in budgets didn’t prevent his side emerging victorious in the Scottish Cup semi-final, what’s to prevent history repeating itself at the same stage of the Betfred League Cup tomorrow?
‘I am very wary of what I say,’ replied the manager. ‘The fact of the matter is we are building and after where the club has been in the last four, five years, we have to build strong foundations.
‘We are gelling in a number of new players, other players are getting fitness levels back and are now understanding how we play.
‘You might come from a team where you have 40-per-cent possession to Rangers where you have 70-per-cent possession. You might be entrenched in 4-4-2 and are now being asked to play 4-3-3.
‘There are various things and demands placed on players coming into the team that aren’t always recognised.’
When Warburton left Hampden victorious in the spring, his fit to the Rangers post seemed to be of the hand-in-glove variety.
With promotion to the Premiership also achieved, he could do no wrong in the eyes of rank-and-file. Then along came Hibs.
Defeat in the Scottish Cup Final did not wipe out the memories of the semi-final but it rendered the journey meaningless. The chance to right that wrong begins tomorrow.
‘We had a great day for the club in the semi-final after the way it has been,’ Warburton recalled.
‘We beat Celtic in a good game, nail-biting, a great showpiece for Scottish football, but then we lost the Final.
‘It doesn’t say: “Lost the Final but had a great semi-final”. Any game you go into, you want to win. If you lose that winning desire, then don’t be in football.
‘Our job on Sunday is to focus on the semi-final and try to get the right result.
‘Once that is done, the Cup goes out of the window. After that, it is about St Johnstone (in the league) and everything goes towards that.’
I have total belief in my squad. You can see we are improving