Mark Warburton knows at a club like Rangers, this isn’t an arrogant statement it’s a factual statement, you’ll often be labelled as ‘the favourite’ and not too often ‘the underdog’ and this is something he’s spoken about, among other things on rangers.co.uk, ahead of the Scottish League Cup tie with Peterhead.
Warburton had become accustomed to being an underdog at Brentford but knows this mentality is different with the Gers as we prepare to face Peterhead on Sunday and with life in general at this club, which he’s gradually getting his head round.
‘David (Weir) and I spoke at length about using the underdog status at Brentford last season and it was very much a case of going everywhere as the underdog, not expected to win and you go and enjoy the occasion and show what you can do.
‘Now it’s the other way round and we need to recognise it and talk to them about it – we can talk to them about our experience of being the underdog and hopefully that benefits them.’
There’s a weight of expectation upon you when you manage Rangers, or play for them, but he feels the players – in the limited time so far – have shown they’ll be able to do this with him ‘delighted with how the boys have embraced’ the way he’s looking for them to play the game.
Warburton is also ‘really pleased with the squad in general’ with it his aim for them to go out and impress the crowd, which if we play the way he wants it’ll entertain them.
There isn’t going to be any ‘reckless’ all out attacking football with defending forgotten as if it isn’t important, Warburton still wants cleansheets but he also wants to ‘send the crowd home happy,’ which they would if entertained and having seen a win of course.
It’ll take a little bit of time for the squad to gel though, which he added he hopes is recognised.
‘If we play the game the way we want to then it will entertain the fans but we won’t be reckless and we want clean sheets.
‘At the same time it is about showing the fans how we want to impose our style of play on the opposition, how we hope we can dominate possession and use it in a positive manner.
‘If we do that and send them home happy then everything works but some players have still only been with us for a couple of weeks so we have to recognise it takes time for the squad to gel.’
Warburton isn’t expecting an easy game against Peterhead on Sunday, and doesn’t feel that anyone else should either.
Peterhead will come to Ibrox as the underdog and he knows we’ll face a strong challenge with him drawing on the experience of his coaching team as Rangers prepare to face another side the Englishman isn’t going to be particularly familiar with.
‘This is where the knowledge and the experience of the likes of David Weir and Jim Stewart come into play.
‘They know that every game for Rangers is a cup final and it has to be that way, sometimes that term is used too infrequently but it is.
‘On Sunday we know we’ll face a strong challenge from a very determined opponent.’
The six-two win over Hibernian last Saturday was a win I said at the time laid down a marker, of course many people have since. I’m not saying I was the first to say that by any means.
However, Warburton disagrees though as he feels that we’ll do this ‘if we can go five or six games into the season and be in the same sort of positive mind set’ and to do that we need to perform week-in-week-out, which is of course the intention as it is to get into the first Scottish Championship game of the season having won two cup-ties first….
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