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MARK WARBURTON vowed not to go overboard in the January transfer window for fear of poisoning the Rangers dressing room.

The Ibrox boss welcomed owner Dave King’s promise to back him in the January transfer window, with the prime focus on building a squad ready to compete in the Premiership next season.

But Warburton warned he won’t splash King’s cash too much in the New Year window because there are dangers of damaging team spirit by flooding the dressing room with too many new faces half way through a campaign.

A dream start to his reign with 10 straight wins has brought the feelgood factor back to the club – and yesterday earned Warburton another accolade as the Ladbrokes Championship Manager of the Month for August.

But he is cautious of doing anything that might upset the unity the players have shown after buying into Warburton’s methods from day one of pre-season training.

He said: “The squad is doing really well. Sometimes more harm is done by adding unnecessary players to what you really need.

(Image: Bill Murray/SNS Group)

“The January transfer window is very different from the summer window. In terms of players coming in the summer, you have that pre-season period to bed them 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 in January and you can rock the harmony and weaken the squad unit and you pay the price for it.

“So January is a far trickier window. In the summer you have more time to shape it, mould it and get it right for the start of the season.

“But our work for January is being done now. There’s always an early flurry when the window opens so you have to do your work beforehand. 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? All the various scenarios that you could imagine.

“You have to make sure you have options and our work has to be done now. Leaving it to December is way too late.

“We’ve maintained our lines of communication with the chairman.

“We are already clear about what we think we need and how the squad is shaping up. We have looked at areas of perceived weakness, where we are vulnerable, where we’ve been exposed.

“You have to go through everything and study it. It’s the same as any other business. It's not just about football – in any business you need to make sure that communication is really clear and that messages are relayed so we are in a good position to act as and when we need to.”

With Warburton scooping the Championship Manager of the Month gong and full-back James Tavernier named Player of the Month, it’s understandable the boss should be satisfied with the progress his group has made in such a short space of time.

In his previous employment as a London City trader, his bonuses for meeting targets would be considerably more than a silver plaque.

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But Warburton insists he is just as satisfied to be collecting these awards as further recognition of a job well done so far.

He added: “The City was about reward. Your bonuses came when you hit your targets. It was as simple as that. That’s how that environment worked. But really the principle is the same no matter what environment you are in.

“This is just as valuable to me, although I’m not sure my wife would say that!

“These awards speak volumes for the team and the staff.

“Any individual award – player, manager, whoever it may be – is about the team. The more we can have of those the better. It reflects what we and the players are doing.

“I got a couple of those last year at Brentford. I’ve not quite got enough for a trip to Ikea yet for another shelf but we’re getting there slowly.

“They are at home at the moment gathering dust as we’re having some work done on the house. But when the time is right they’ll be put in an appropriate place I’m sure.

“It would be ludicrous if you didn’t appreciate them. You work hard and it’s how you perceive the awards. They are about the team.

(Image: SNS Group)

“If you just sit there and say it’s about yourself and for your own ego then I think that’s completely wrong. It’s about the players and staff. The more of those we have the better.

“It speaks volumes about the work the players are doing, the commitment they are showing and the quality they are showing.

“The unity and harmony within the group has been really pleasing.

“Don’t forget we had 11 players leave and five loans with 11 new ones coming in including young ones. When you have that sort of activity around the squad, sometimes it’s hard for them to get it right at the start.

“But from day one, the harmony has been great. We build our season around unity and harmony and a work ethic and those pillars have thankfully been really evident.

“This is a great club and the players can feel that. Gedion Zelalem had no previous history or understanding of Ibrox on match day.

(Image: SNS)

“So to go there with his dad and see that game against Hibs with 50,000 people there was a real eye-opener.

“He’ll give you a real, honest opinion on that because until you experience it you really don’t know.

“And this is a top-class training ground. I’ve been really fortunate to see most of the big training grounds around Europe and this is up there.

“This is Champions League standard – and that’s got to be our aim.

“I’m amazed when people say, ‘What’s your aim in this competition or that competition?’ It has to be to win it. We never go into any game looking to lose.

“We want to go as far as possible in whatever tournament it may be but for us hopefully we’ll achieve our aims this season – touch wood we do – and whatever league we’re in or whatever competition, we want to go and win it.

“That’s got to be the way to approach things at this club”