THE SAME GAME
Warburton insists that, as either a City trader or a football boss, the skills he needs are similar
TO many outsiders, the purposeful career decision taken by Mark Warburton several years ago remains a matter of deep intrigue.
It’s just not every day that a City trader opts to hang the sharp suit back on the peg to don a manager’s training kit. Regardless of one’s personal wealth, it takes no little guts to voluntarily enter perhaps the only employment market that’s more volatile than the one you are leaving.
From a distance, both jobs seem about diverse as you could wish for and, in many senses, they are.
But although the trading floor will seem light years away when Warburton takes his side to Dumbarton this afternoon, he holds that his current and previous positions have much more in common than you might think.
‘It’s the same in any business: you want to give talented people the framework which allows them to play. That’s all it i s,’ he insisted.
‘So if you’re in a City trading room, you want to give your talented dealers the tools so that they can be as good as they can be, whether that’s customer business or banking business.
‘The same applies in football. I wanted to make sure that whatever framework we adopted gave our skilful players the chance to go and perform. That’s the key.
‘You have similarities in business. You have guys who come in and make the same amount of money every day and you also have very talented guys who are up and down, brilliant one day and not so much the next.
‘Just like a football team, you had consistently solid performers but you also had three or four flair players. Maybe others don’t see it that way but, in my mind, the similarities are clear.’
Given the start he has made to life as Rangers manager, it would take a brave man to take issue with Warburton on any subject right now.
His side descend on the Rock seeking an 11th straight win in all competitions, their enterprising brand of football every bit as impressive as the results it has fashioned.
It is evident that the Rangers manager has a sharp eye for a player. Next to nothing was known about the likes of Gedion Zelalem and Nathan Oduwa when they joined on loan from Arsenal and Spurs respectively, yet they have thrived in their new environment. It is not every duck that so readily takes to water, though.
‘You can go on coaching courses and read your books and play the game, that’s fine,’ Warburton added.
‘But the biggest thing nowadays i s man- management because you’re dealing with a different type of player.
‘The guys who come from the academies are more forward than they used to be, they ask more questions. They’ve had a better education in terms of nutrition, rehabilitation, activation and everything else.
‘They now ask questions when, 20 years ago, you’d have been too scared to do that for fear of getting a mouthful and a slap on the back of the head, but times have moved on.
‘So, when those questions are put to you, you’ve got to be armed with the knowledge and you also have to realise what makes that individual player tick because every one of them is different.’
It’s hard to imagine Warburton agonising over minor matters. He seems to be a man that knows his own mind; what his best side is, its strengths and weaknesses and what style suits it best.
From day one at Rangers, he has adopted a 4-3-3 formation with the full-backs highly advanced. His liking for such a system did not come to him in a Eureka moment but gradually evolved from his teenage years on the terraces of White Hart Lane.
‘When I was young, I was a Spurs fan and I watched their FA Cupwinning teams of the 1980s, but they didn’t influence me a great deal as a manager,’ he insisted.
‘I don’t mean that in a bad way but Glenn Hoddle was the obvious player to watch. That was a great era for me as a Spurs fan as opposed to someone who was watching them to study what they did — it was just about watching individual players at the time.
‘Whether you’re a fan of Spurs, Arsenal or Rangers, you get wrapped up in your team and the results rather than the performances — that’s what matters. But it was a joy to watch some of those players.
‘(My ethos developed) just by watching players and enjoying football. Then, the older you get, the more you start to realise the impact made by the Dutch World Cup team or the ones from Brazil or Germany.
‘My earliest memory of that was the Holland side with Johan Cruyff, Johan Neeskens and Rudi Krol.’
For all the talk of record breaking and revolution that’s accompanied his every step in Glasgow, no one need remind the Londoner that what’s taken place has done so in the second tier of Scottish football. Assuredly, far greater tests lie in wait — starting with St Johnstone in the League Cup on Tuesday.
In the Championship at least, his side can only beat what’s in front of t hem. Regardless of t he resources at your disposal, setting the bar so high so early does bring a pressure of its own.
‘We just had a meeting, the players and the staff, about that very subject,’ the Rangers manager said.
‘They have set very high standard and the fans want to be entertained. They have been fantastic but there will be days when things don’t go our way. As l ong as there is 100 per cent commitment and work rate, the fans will be happy.
‘Any fan that pays money for a ticket and takes their family along, they don’t want to see a player half-heartedly making a challenge. Whatever line of work you are in, there will be things when days just don’t go right.’
Doubtless, more challenges await if — as expected — Warburton’s side are promoted this season.
For now, his opposite number at Celtic, Ronny Deila, remains outwith his line of vision.
‘I haven’t met him,’ Warburton said. ‘I stayed at a hotel for a number of weeks before I got my apartment and Ronny stays on the estate, but I never came across him. People spoke very highly of him but our aim is to do what we need to do this season.’