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MARK WARBURTON reckons anyone who disputes Glasgow’s claim as the most passionate football city in Britain is talking a load of Ballochs.

The Rangers boss went for a round of golf at the swanky Loch Lomond club on Thursday with two well-heeled fans and spent 18 holes being schooled in the history of his club.

The Championship leaders have put up the “sold-out” signs for the second game in succession against Hibs tomorrow as the Light Blues legions warm to the brand of exciting, attacking football espoused by their new boss.

And following his decision to take the high road the Rangers boss even took a playful poke at his reputation as a workaholic, with 6am starts and 8pm finishes the norm in his first two months in the job.

He said: “For the first time in nine weeks we took time off yesterday – shocking, a sacking offence I would have thought – and were invited to play Loch Lomond. It was stunning.

“The passion for the club from everyone you meet is quite incredible. The feedback has been really positive, the fans are enjoying their football.

“I’m learning a lot. I’m an outsider coming in and picking up a lot about the situation of the past three or four years, also about the football side.

“I was lucky enough to play the round of golf with a couple of Rangers fans who were telling me exactly the same thing, they were happy with what they’re seeing.

“What is that? Hopefully passing, attacking football, work ethic and commitment – and hopefully the right results as well because they are most important.

“A packed Ibrox is testament to the players’ efforts.

“At the golf club a passionate Rangers fan came over and there was someone from the other side as well and they were having a laugh. It’s a passionate football city in my mind.

“I’m a Tottenham fan and North London derbies with Arsenal are passionate, with the clubs only a couple of miles apart. But the level of intensity here is ratcheted up again. You talk to Rangers fans and they reel off names from 1964 and 1973, cup finals and the likes.

“They are so involved with their club, it’s great to see.

“We have to recognise and respond to that and the game on Sunday is a great challenge to excite our fans.

“It’s unbelievable to have 52,000 for a game that’s live on television.

“The sell-out sends the perfect message to players. People are coming to see them because they have worked hard in pre-season and have demonstrated they can embrace new ideas and apply them in a game situation.

“If fans are enjoying their football and going home happy the players must be doing something right but that is why it’s one game at a time.

“There’s no point playing tremendously well on November 5 if, in between, we have been poor. It’s about keeping the fans happy, keeping them coming.

“We had 8500 follow us on a wet night in Ayr in midweek, a shocking evening, and that’s tremendous. We need to keep them coming, as many full houses as we can at Ibrox.

“The passion is what I was used to at Brentford times 10. Brentford have some really passionate, knowledgeable fans – all clubs do – but it’s just the size of it here. It seems to be 24/7, there’s no switching off.”

Many Rangers fans held their heads in their hands in the first 30 minutes last time out against Hibs as their side struggled to string two passes together in the Petrofac Cup, the first game of the season.

Warburton’s new-look Rangers looked like a side of nobodies but they found their groove and hit Alan Stubbs’s side for six to record their biggest win in Leith for more than half a century.

(Image: SNS Group/Roddy Scott)

They are unbeaten since the start of the season and even though Warburton has chopped and changed his personnel – he made five changes from the side that won at Alloa for the trip to Somerset Park – they have still maintained momentum. He added: “Players expecting to keep their place automatically? If we had that situation we are dead, we really are. It’s got to be about the squad.

“We had a really tight squad last year at Brentford and used the fewest number of players in the entire Football League. You must ensure your entire squad can feel, touch and taste the first team.

“If you’re turning up for work and you’ve no chance of getting to the first team then we’ve created the wrong working environment.

“We’re nearly there in terms of numbers and if we have a problem and the window is still open we will move.

“But it’s also about balancing things and you’ve got to trust your academy. At Ayr we had Hardie, Aird, Walsh, McKay. If we have a problem with injury or suspension we have to be able to dip into the academy. Otherwise what’s the point of having one?”

Warburton is also refusing to get too hung up on his verbal spat with Stubbs ahead of the match.

He added: “It’s just another game. I don’t mean that in a derogatory way but we don’t get five points for a win.”

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