THE WRATH OF KING
Rangers chairman slams Warburton over player policy and desire to move south
DAVE KING last night took aim at Mark Warburton to claim the former Rangers manager was unhappy at having his recruitment policy scrutinised by the Ibrox chairman and had angled for a move back to England.
In an explosive statement made less than 24 hours after the resignation of Warburton, his assistant David Weir and head of recruitment Frank McParland became public, King addressed the Englishman’s departure with a string of revelations.
King disclosed that Warburton told him after joining the club that he viewed Rangers as a ‘stepping stone’ towards satisfying the ambition of reaching a managerial position in the English Premier League.
It is understood that it was a Championship club, Nottingham Forest, who were interested in Warburton last week. Warburton’s advisor, Dave Lockwood, spent three days in Glasgow in talks aimed at securing a route out of Ibrox for his clients before Forest confirmed they were retaining the interim services of Gary Brazil until the end of the season.
Rangers were not interested in attempts from the Warburton camp to renegotiate and accepted the initial agreement of the resignation offers, which would see them waive the right to any compensation from a future employer.
A legal wrangle over the notice terms of their departure now looks sure to be fought out between Rangers and their former coaching staff, who are understood to be acting under advice of the League Managers Association
and will need to come to an agreement with the Ibrox club should they wish to take another job.
Rangers directors will meet tomorrow to determine whether to press ahead with an interim appointment until the end of the season or if a quick permanent choice should be made.
Alex McLeish, who will be at Ibrox today covering the William Hill Scottish Cup tie against Morton for Sky Sports and then helping make the quarter-final draw, has not been spoken to yet but remains firm favourite to fill in at least until May.
In the meantime, their chairman broke cover to reveal his serious concerns over how Warburton had spent funds on players and wages last summer after King claimed that £18million of his £30m three-year budget pledge was used in 18 months.
King insisted that confidential information about his request for a review of the recruitment work had been leaked to the media — and not by one of his club hierarchy.
The close-season big-name captures of Joey Barton, Niko Kranjcar and Philippe Senderos barely gave Rangers a return for various reasons, while £2m was forked out for Joe Garner and Michael O’Halloran, who have both underperformed.
‘Ahead of the board meeting at the end of January, I advised the manager that the board wished to review our recruitment plan and performance over the previous two windows,’ said King. ‘This was a routine request and was timely given the concerns that everyone at the club has with regard to the high level of wages we were paying relative to the performance on the pitch.
‘In particular, a large portion of our wage bill was not even seeing regular playing time. Under normal circumstances, such a review would remain confidential. However, in this instance, your board’s routine questioning of management was leaked to the media and conveyed as being a negative reflection of the board’s attitude to the manager and the recruitment department.
‘It was confirmed to me that the leak did not come from a board member. Irrespective of who leaked confidential information, it is clear from subsequent media comments that the manager did not respond well to the board reviewing his recruitment activity.
‘This is a strange position to adopt and, in my personal experience, is not a position a more experienced manager would adopt. No manager in the world can reasonably expect to be beyond scrutiny.’
King continued his statement to inform Rangers supporters that ‘things moved quickly from that point’ to the dramas of the past week in which resignation issues were hammered out with representatives of Warburton and his staff.
He added: ‘There were rumours that the management team (presumably their agent) was negotiating with English clubs and, in one instance, I was informally approached to ask if the club would waive compensation if the management team was to leave.
‘While this was unsubstantiated by direct confirmation from the club in question, I was alert to a conversation that Mark Warburton had with me after joining the club in which he advised me that his long-term ambition was to manage in the EPL and he viewed Rangers as a stepping stone to achieve this. His comments to the media simultaneously reinforced his present unhappiness at the club.
‘I was therefore not surprised when the management team’s agent approached the club’s managing director Stewart Robertson to request a meeting which was held in Glasgow on Monday this week. The outcome of this meeting was that the agent subsequently offered that Mark, David and Frank would resign with immediate effect without compensation as long as the club agreed to waive compensation from any new club that they signed for.
‘After discussion, the board accepted this offer and employment was immediately terminated. In order for us to achieve our ambitions we need employees that, like your board members, will always put Rangers first.
‘While we were dealing with the admin and press releases relating to the resignation, the agent again contacted us and asked to defer the resignation until the management had secured a new club. I assume that the new deal had somehow collapsed at the last minute. The board met to consider this request but resolved to hold them to the original agreement.
‘We are now in the process of reviewing the best interim and long-term solution for ensuring that a modern and robust footballing structure is put in place that will continue with and entrench the footballing philosophy that we have in place. We also must protect and support the marvellous work that has been achieved by the Academy over the last two years. Despite the relative disappointment of this season so far, the bigger project remains firmly on track and we will take whatever corrective measures are necessary.’
King had kicked off his statement by explaining to supporters where he felt the Warburton era went awry following ‘an unqualified success’ last season. The Englishman’s fruitful appeal to the board for extra signings last summer saw the original ‘season two’ plan to make just five or six quality additions ripped up.
The South Africa-based chairman detailed his stance as follows:
‘I have issued a select number of statements to give supporters a reliable update on the progression that your board committed to almost two years ago. Some of the content relates to a subject matter that the club would normally only deal with at our AGM or results announcements. However, under the circumstances, I feel that inclusion is appropriate to ensure that supporters are properly informed and don’t have to rely on uninformed media speculation.
For the avoidance of doubt, I repeat the key elements:
1. We would invest sufficient resources to ensure immediate promotion to the Premiership.
2. In season two we would further invest to be competitive in the Premiership and qualify for Europe at the end of the season. Our realistic expectation was to come second. This was to be achieved by signing five or six players of a quality that improved the squad that won the Championship.
3. In season three we would invest in five or six players that further improved the squad to compete for the title and progress in Europe.
4. I personally estimated that we would require an investment of £30m over that period to achieve our stated objectives.
I now comment on each of these elements:
1. We hired, at short notice, a relatively untested management team that recruited a number of players and introduced a style of play that was pleasing to our supporters. Significant investment was made on and off the park and the Championship was won in some style. The season was an unqualified success and the management team was rewarded with a vastly improved contract.
2. This season we did not stick to our plan of signing five or six players because the manager appealed to the board for additional signings. Despite the concern about departing from our plan of prudent phased investment, the board backed the manager’s request. This placed us significantly above the football resources available to our competitors (other than Celtic) and was expected to ensure that we finished a strong second in the league. While I still believe that we can finish a strong second, we are not where we anticipated we would be at this stage of the season and have not repeated the success that we had with our signings from the previous season.
3. It is clear we are behind our target for next season and it is the board’s duty to take steps to get things back on track.
4. £18m of the originally estimated £30m investment has already been made. The overall investment in any football team is driven by the net player spend and, given we are behind target with our squad, there may be a further need to accelerate investment at the end of this season. It is my view that we will, in all likelihood, invest more than £30m before we are where we want to be but this will be revisited once we have a new permanent management team in place.’
The availability of McLeish, out of work since a short spell with Zamalek in Egypt last May, places him in pole position to lead that management team with a temporary appointment the most likely course of action for King. Former midfielder Alex Rae served under McLeish at Genk in 2014/15 and would be a backroom staff option.