An Ibrox influx might bring us January Blues, cautions Mark
MARK WARBURTON admits he will think twice about adding a raft of fresh faces in January for fear it might upset the unity of his squad. The Englishman has enjoyed a perfect start to life as Rangers manager with 10 wins out of 10 in all competitions. Warburton, who was yesterday named Ladbrokes Championship Manager of the Month for August, concurs with chairman Dave King’s view that up to five new players may be required if his team are to compete for the Premiership title next term — provided they first get there. But although the former Brentford manager admits he’s already working towards the next transfer window, he believes wholesale changes in January could disrupt the momentum they currently enjoy. ‘January is a far trickier window,’ he warned. ‘We need to add something but the January transfer window is very different from the summer transfer window. ‘Summer, you have more time to shape it, mould it and get it right for the start of the season. ‘You have pre-season to bed players in, which you’ve seen with our own group this season. ‘But, in January, you’ve got to be careful. You make too many changes and you can rock the harmony and weaken the squad unit and you pay a price for it.’ Nonetheless, with Rangers already enjoying a fivepoint lead over secondplaced Falkirk and nine- point advantage over main rivals Hibernian, Warburton is hoping to close in on the title by fine tuning his squad at the turn of the year. ‘You can’t get to January and just say: “We’ll see what we need”,’ added the Rangers manager. ‘You see the activity leading into the start of January. There’s an early flurry, so you have to do your work beforehand. Our work is being done now. ‘You always ask yourself the ‘what-if’ scenario. What if A happens or B happens? What if that player leaves or that player is injured, etc? All the various scenarios that you could imagine. ‘You have to make sure you have options, so our work has to be done now. ‘Leaving it until December is too late.’ Warburton has yet to make a decision on whether to offer veteran midfielder John Eustace a contract. The former Derby County star has been training at Murray Park for the past few weeks but the club have yet to decide if he’s worthy of a deal.