Manager Mark Warburton has spoken of his delight at being able to the lift the Championship trophy in front of the fans at Ibrox yesterday.
With a one all draw played out in front of the home crowd against Alloa, the result cerainly wasn’t what he wanted to mark the day – but the celebrations certainly lifted his post game spirits.
Speaking to the Official Site in his post game press interviews, the gaffer said of his maiden year at the club.
‘I`m delighted, and I`m delighted for the players and for the fans. I mentioned on the pitch, that the players were challenged to win the league and win it in style, so it`s all credit to them for their application throughout the season. It`s also all credit to the fans for their level of backing. I can`t obviously talk about the last four or five years, but I am learning about some of the turmoil they have gone through, so I am delighted for them. The question was asked what it meant to get our hands on the trophy – it means we`re back in the top flight, and now we have to keep moving forward and to go and challenge. We have to recruit well over the summer, and we know we have to strengthen in key areas, which again we will do. The support from the board and the owner has been first class, and basically, we have to do our jobs.’
Warburton went on to say that the players would get a good break to rest after the Scottish Cup, but then they would be back and the hard work would begin for next season.
‘The players need a rest – and they will go away on May 22 after the Cup Final for a deserved three and a half weeks, and then they are back in again on June 18. The fans can hopefully expect the football department moving forward, getting better in all areas on and off the pitch, and hopefully delivering the performances which get the results we are after.’
With Ibrox seeing its biggest crowd on the day since December 27 2008, with 50,349 supporters in attendance to see the trophy lifted, Warburton added the fans would never be taken for granted at the club.
‘We had a preseason friendly with Burnley, and I think we had nearly 25,000 in, which was quite staggering, and then we had our first full house in the first league match against St Mirren, and we spoke about how many times we could fill Ibrox. If we`re filling Ibrox and the fans are happy and are supporting you, then we`re in a good place. We know how big the club is, we know the level of support here and we know the expectation here as well. I mentioned in a previous interview that second is last as far as we`re concerned, so we know what we have to do. What is good about Rangers is there are no grey areas. We have to go out there and try to win in a style of play which is entertaining, and if we can do that, then we will be in a good place, but we are not ignoring the fact that there is a lot of work to be done. There are teams like Celtic, Aberdeen, Hearts, St Johnstone who had a great result last night and Motherwell – some really good teams, but what we have to do is be the best we can be.’
With a couple of Championship games left before the next trip to Hampden, with Alloa behind us, he spoke more of the game and said everybody had been disappointed with the performance and the final result, and the players themselves weren’t happy with how their standards slipped in the first half in particular.
‘The players were angry at half time with themselves. Their standards dropped, and I think perhaps subconsciously, that maybe happened after achieving their goal of winning the league, winning the Petrofac and then winning the Scottish Cup semi-final. So we were maybe a little bit flat. We lacked a spark, we lacked a little bit of cleverness, but there was no lack of effort out there. We huffed and puffed though and maybe lacked a spark. So I think we have to recognise that, refocus as a group, train well, recover well tomorrow and then start again on Monday. We have another tough test at Livingston on Tuesday, and when fans go and follow us, we have to make sure we perform.’
With Liam Burt coming on from the bench, Warburton said he was one positive he could take, as was another good showing from Barrie McKay.
‘I had Michael O`Halloran on the bench, and I am conscious that Michael is cup-tied so I wanted to give Liam some pitch time for that reason. Michael will be a big name for us going forward, but it was good to see Liam doing well, and I thought again, Barrie McKay was outstanding, and deserved his ‘Man of the Match` award. So I am delighted with his level of consistency, but all over the park, the effort was there but we lacked a bit of quality in key areas.’
With potential European adventures next season, he also said talks had already been had with the players about training, rest, and dealing with tighter turnarounds in games with midweek fixture possibly on the cards for next term.
‘We talked about the Europa League if we are in it if we win the Cup Final. You could be playing on a Thursday night, getting home in the early hours of the Friday and then be playing on the Sunday. So we have to learn from every experience we have. We`ll be fine for the Final, but it`s just about making sure we refocus and move forward.’
