WARBURTON FEELS HEAT UP NORTH

SUMMING up the vice-like pressure of managing one of the Old Firm, the late Tommy Burns once succinctly stated that one half of the city hates you, while the other half thinks it owns you. Whatever the shortcomings of the Scottish game, no one who has occupied either of the hot seats down the years has claimed them to be anything other than the most taxing of positions. With such extraordinary public interest in both clubs from all corners of the globe, intense media scrutiny on any of their high-profile employees really ought to come as no surprise to them. Yet, for current Rangers manager Mark Warburton (below), the transition from being just another face in the managerial crowd at Brentford to one of the most recognisable and quoted people in the country has taken some getting used to. ‘It is incredible,’ he admitted. ‘The passion for football you see is magnificent. If you don’t like it, don’t come to Glasgow. But it does shock other people. ‘In Madrid, there are 15 pages every single night on Real and the colour of a guy’s shoelaces is closely monitored. Here, it is also fairly intense. ‘We were in the bar talking about it — the fact there are radio shows every night which are predominantly Rangers and Celtic.’ Although he has evidently adapted to the football requirements at Rangers, you do sense, at times, that the heat in the kitchen in terms of the public’s ravenous appetite for information is not always to his liking. Indeed, while attending St George’s Park recently as part of his ongoing Pro Licence studies, Warburton outlined his misgivings about that aspect of the job to some distinguished colleagues. ‘It was a really good group — Phil Neville, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, Scott Parker, Brad Friedel, Garry Flitcroft, Ian Woan,’ he explained ahead of tonight’s visit to Cappielow. ‘There are some really good people on the course. We had all the Fleet Street papers and we had different scenarios and we had to deal with it — and a Match of the Day type interview. It was good. ‘They asked me after the Press conference how I found it. They are a lot more friendly than the Scottish media… ‘I was asked about that and how I deal with it. Certainly, the media up here is far more intense than down south.’ He does not, however, take a dim view of the Scottish game per se. Despite operating in the second tier up here, the Englishman feels the calibre of men he has been pitting his wits against has enhanced his own skill set. ‘There are really high-quality managers up here,’ he said. ‘There is no difference in the managers. The difference is in the funds they have to work with. That is the difference. ‘Sometimes you have managers at a higher level because they can deal with a bigger budget. ‘I look at Jim (Duffy) and Peter (Houston) and the other managers in the league and they are first class. ‘I am always looking around and learning.’