Rival’s training methods left Rangers boss stumped

MARK WAR BURTON admits Brendan Rodgers has already bamboozled him when it comes to coaching.

The Rangers boss revealed his Celtic counterpart’s insistence on drawing up practice sessions in SPANISH caused confusion when the pair worked together at Watford.

Warburton hopes his own all- English blueprint will be enough to win the Old Firm league clash at Parkhead next week.

And he is adamant his strategy for success is about much more than just Joey Barton.

Warburton was academy director at Watford in 2008 when Rodgers arrived to spend eight months as manager.

He recalled: “I remember Brendan being very affable. He had the gift of the gab, could speak ver y easily to people and was well-organised.

“He referred a lot to Jose Mourhino in terms of his level of organisation. I think he referred to him as: ‘The best organiser in the world’.

“To learn from that dynamic was good – apart from the fact he wrote his sessions in Spanish, which was completely confusing to me.

“I knew what ‘Rondos’ was, but I didn’t know anything else.

“I was a bit confused by that so Malky Mackay, Sean Dyche and I were looking at each other in total bemusement, and trying to work out what the diagrams were.

“Other than that, it was a really good time to learn at a club and I enjoyed it immensely.”

Brendan Rodgers admitted his sessions were in a different language in case they fell into the wrong hands.

The Spanish term “Rondos” refers to a session where players practice ball retention.

You can see why Warburton knew what it was – it’s a skill that forms the core of his coaching philosophy.

There’s no hint of Rangers altering their style of play to face Celtic or any other team. He went on: “Footballers want the ball. “I always compare it to other businesses – it’s a bricklayer with no trowel. If you are a footballer and you are always running around, go and be an athlete.

“I watched the draw with Kilmarnock, and I thought it was our worst first half since I’d been at the club. I went home and watched it at midnight. You know what? For the first 15 minutes, we were alright, we were decent.

“You look at it and go: ‘Actually, the margins are really fine’. I just think people expect us to carve teams open.

“In the Celtic cup semi-final last season, we were very good, but teams aren’t going to play like Celtic played against us. They won’t because we’ll pop it around them.

“That’s not an arrogant boast, far from it. But teams know what we’ll do if that’s the scenario.

“What we’ve faced so far this season is two banks of four, very often 10 men behind the ball. We’ve got to look at different ways of breaking teams down.

“It’s difficult. If we do training games on the pitch and it’s 10 v 5, the five very often win the game. It’s hard to break down.”

Joey Barton hadn’t played a game for Rangers before he declared that Celtic skipper Scott Brown wasn’t in his league.

The talking will stop when the pair go head-to-head on Saturday, but Warburton is keen to play down the Barton factor.

He said: “If I was Joey Barton and I’m with the Championship Team Of The Year and I’m very nearly the Championship Player Of The Year, I’d be coming to Scotland wanting to be one of the best players in the country

“But it’s not all about Joey. An individual won’t win us titles or trophies. It’s about the team.

“Joey won’t be at his best after four games, neither will Niko Kranjcar or Jordan Rossiter.”