Club legends’ wisdom gives Warburton a helping hand
MARK WARBURTON has revealed how tapping into the Ibrox know-how of Walter Smith and John Greig provides he and his players with solace amid the testing times trying to restore Rangers back to high rank.
Another tough week of adjustment to the demands of top flight football with Rangers last week featured a second Old Firm defeat of the season, then the sound of jeers echoing a disgruntled stadium at the end of a home draw with St Johnstone.
Yesterday’s 3-0 victory over Kilmarnock lifted the Ibrox side to second in the table. Rangers remain firmly in the hunt for European places in their first season back in the Ladbrokes Premiership.
Expectancy has rocketed, however, following last year’s frequently spectacular football and William Hill Scottish Cup defeat of Celtic and that has come as a culture shock for a host of Rangers rookies as well as those bedded in during the second-tier title romp.
Never far away for Warburton and his squad, however, are men who know precisely what they are going through.
Smith and Greig remain towering presences around the stadium when visiting and are well worth listening to either over a coffee on match night or breaking bread away from the tension of game day.
‘I spoke to Walter the other night and I have spoken to John,’ said Warburton. ‘Absolutely. Whether it’s John’s font of knowledge and experience or seeing Walter for dinner, the good thing about people of that quality and character is they come to you.
‘John is there before every game talking to the players. He’s not there casually. He’s sensibly slipping in words of wisdom and that helps.
‘Why wouldn’t you listen to someone like John with his wealth of experience? It might just be one word of advice but it’s nice to have someone like that around. Walter is the same, he’s always at the games.
‘He comes into my office for a chat after the game. Walter will phone me about the other night. It’s great to hear his opinion to see what he thinks.’
Warburton gathered his players together on Thursday morning for a training centre debrief and urged them to relish their crash course in the realities of Rangers — then embrace the ferocious challenge of meeting the fans’ expectations. He also asked his players a key question after they were berated for drawing 1-1 with a cast-iron Premiership operation in Tommy Wright’s team.
‘The fans will be no less expectant than they were 15 years ago — it’s life at a big club,’ said Warburton.
‘I said to them: ‘Where would you rather be: 50,000 at Ibrox or 4,000 at a smaller club? That’s the key point.
‘You’ll look back in 20 years and you were playing in front of 50,000 at Ibrox. Get used to it. But imagine it was your lad out there at 19 or 20 and Ibrox is his workplace. In one hand you say it’s fantastic, what a privilege to play in an arena like that. On the other it’s, well, you really need broad shoulders for so much expectation that you’ve got to deal with.
‘There will be criticism. Can we do more to help young players because it’s tough? I just hope I can. The experience of Davie Weir, Jim Stewart, Kenny Miller, Lee Wallace, Walter and John, they can all help.
‘David said he played with seasoned internationals who took six months to get used to the demands and expectations of Rangers. Yet we have to say to Josh Windass, who’s come from Accrington Stanley: “Off you go out there and enjoy it”. It takes time to adjust. But we do want to accelerate the players’ learning and the huge expectation can help with that. It can be draining but that’s the nature of the game now.’
Warburton’s words were endorsed by Rob Kiernan. The defender conceded that an entire team of new signings this summer raised the bar for achievement while presenting a challenge to start winning straight away.
‘We need to get points on the board but it’s obviously a transition,’ said Kiernan. ‘It’s taking a bit of time to get back to where the club was but it’s a transition period, definitely.
‘But once you’re back in the top flight, the expectation is there and there’s not really six months to get used to this league or get back to how we were playing last season.
‘There’s no hiding from the fact it’s difficult to adapt to.’