Managing expectation is Warburton’s biggest test
● Rangers boss sure he will get time to complete his ‘project’
son, plus we also see people like directors John Gilligan, Paul Murray and John Bennett all the time. We have good dialogue. What we do is relay our thoughts on the team, structure and staffing continually and in the board meetings.
“The expectation has to be always there and we are getting used to it. Some guys are steeped in it. It has taken me 18 months to understand a lot more about it. But the new guys we have had coming in this season have been knocking on my door, bemused by it.
“We have got to learn that the expectation is high because the supporters have been reared on titles, cup success and European travels. That is the Rangers support, we have to recognise that is where we have to get back to. What we have to do is manage the expectations in the squad and recognise what is good, what is success. In the short term, and the longer term.
“The support are very demanding, very expectant and rightly so. They were reared on success and it’s our job to understand that. I was interested to hear Davie Weir say that when he played here, it was with proven internationals and it still took many of them months to settle when they joined the club.
“We have young players here now. I look at Josh Windass, who was playing for Accrington Stanley last season and then on Wednesday was in front of a 40,000 plus crowd at Ibrox. It’s a huge jump for these boys. But the crowd don’t have to change, it’s up to us to recognise the responsibility and enjoy it. It’s like everything else, it’s going to take time. So when I see people slaughtering a young player, there is no thought of what he is going through. He has gone from playing in front of 2,000 last year to playing in front of 50,000 this year and he just has to get used to it.”
But for Warburton and his players, there was a poignant reminder yesterday that football’s significance amid
0 Mark Warburton has experienced a tough start to his first season as a top-flight manager with just