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MARK WARBURTON might have to build a bigger mantelpiece. But right now he’s too busy trying to construct a masterpiece.

As he collected his second Ladbrokes Championship Manager of the Month trophy in two months, the Rangers manager was happy to have his work recognised.

With top scorer Martyn Waghorn winning the players’ award, the feel good factor around the club continues to build.





But Warburton knows his long-term plans to create a brighter future at Ibrox are a long way from completion.

The Rangers boss is only in the door three months. He’s now laid out his building blocks but has yet to hammer them in place and in the coming weeks he hopes to have one of the foundation cemented into the club’s structure.

Warburton is working behind the scenes on creating a scouting system that will bring the best young talent to Murray Park, where he can mould it into the shape he wants Rangers to become.

At present, he has relied on his own knowledge of the English game to bring players to Ibrox but that net will be cast wider as he sends a team of scouts out into the field to identify the kind of player – and person – Warburton wants to represent Rangers.

He said: “We have to build something that lasts.

“If you look at short-term fixes they never work, and certainly not for Rangers.

“The club has come through a tumultuous period so it’s about strong foundations and ensuring the playing squads are the right quality coming through. We have to make sure the staffing is of the highest quality and move the whole football department forward. If we can do that, hopefully we’ll be in a good place.

“We’re making some real inroads in the scouting set-up and I’m confident in the very near future we’ll have something to say on that.

“Again, as with players, it’s about getting the right people who add value to the club.

“There’s no point saying I’ve got five scouts for you – they’ve got to be people who know exactly what we are looking for and what the player profile is that David Weir and I are demanding here.

“So that those people are not all over the place, we have to make sure we get the right people and we’re very close to getting them.”



(Image: Action Images / Graham Stuart)

Warburton reckons that recruitment lies at the core of creating a better Rangers.

He believes in his coaching and football philosophy but without clever enough footballers to implement it, what’s the point? The Gers coach added: “You have to trust these people implicitly. Otherwise, all that happens is you get a report on your desk saying there’s a good player down in Devon.

“Then you travel all the way down there to watch him and think: ‘He’s nowhere near it.’

“You’ve got to trust those people to watch players three or four times and to find out about his character.

“Does he look after himself? What’s his body fat like? Does he have family? Are there any problems you’re aware of? It’s just making sure that a character can come into our environment and add value.

“Because if you have a bad apple in your dressing room then you have a real problem.

“There are some really good people out there, although there are average people in any industry.

It’s all about how we get the best ones to come to us.”

Warburton is clearly focused on rebuilding Rangers and has no intention of heading back south anytime soon – even if he is 20-1 to be the next Liverpool manager. That fact clearly amused him yesterday.

His reaction? “I wouldn’t stick a tenner on that one. It’s always flattering to be linked to a job, especially a club of Liverpool’s size, but we’re at a big club here as well and we have a job to do and we are very committed to Rangers.

“We know what we have to do. The targets for the year are very clear but right now the only focus is the next game.”

That mantra doesn’t quite ring true. This manager is looking much further ahead than the next game. As he said, short-term fixes are not what Rangers need.