Derek Johnstone: Good start from team Warburton but now it’s about getting Rangers back to the upper crust

I thought how the new Rangers manager conducted himself and spoke as he was paraded in the Blue Room earlier this week was first-class.

If you were a Gers supporter watching it I am sure you would have been mightily pleased with the appointment and excited at what is going to happen with the team in the coming season.

I thought it was refreshing how positively the new boss spoke about the team and how he wants his side to play.

To get full houses back to Ibrox again, the Englishman certainly has to get the team playing in an entertaining style.

For somebody who has only had 78 games in charge of a club in senior football, he has built up quite a reputation down south.

I am well aware that a wee club like Brentford in London is not the same as the mighty Glasgow Rangers in Scotland.

But Warburton has scouted, been in charge of youth academies, has been a youth coach and a first-team coach and and been responsible for identifying and signing players. So he knows the game.

To have David Weir, a Rangers fan who has played for the club, done well and won trophies, there alongside him will be invaluable as well.

You can tell somebody about Rangers all you like, but until you actually experience it yourself and get involved in your first game in front of a full house at Ibrox, you won’t know what it is like.

I don’t think it will faze him, though. He has worked in the financial markets in London and made himself a right few quid, by all accounts. He understands pressure.

I must admit I am disappointed for Stuart McCall. I think if he had been given the nod then he would have done a good job as well.

But the board have seen things differently and the supporters now have to buy into the new set-up. I have no doubt that they will.

I am excited about the future under Warburton and Weir, and that is something I haven’t been able to say in a long time at Rangers.

I like the cut of his jib. He hasn’t promised anybody anything. He has said how he wants to play the game and stressed that other sides will have to deal with how he wants to approach the game.

The only worry I have at the moment concerns the timescale he is working to. Is he going to be able to get in the players he needs for his side to be able play in an attractive manner?

At this stage of the summer, a lot of the best players have already agreed to move on to other clubs.

Unless his targets have already been spoken to and asked to hold on, I just don’t know if he is going to be able to get in the quality he is looking for quickly enough.

His statement about not liking huge squads was interesting. He had a point. If you are training all week and then sitting in the stand on a Saturday, you lose interest.

He wants hungry players who want to be involved on match days.

As I say, he said many of the right things. He touched upon many of the qualities Rangers need back.

But talk is cheap. We are all aware of that. We will see in the next couple of weeks who he is able to bring in. He has to sign players who can cope with representing the Ibrox club.

I think the last few years have proved the shirt has been too heavy for a lot of the players. A lot of these guys were all right at the clubs they were at. But when they step up to play for a club like Rangers it is a different story.

The spotlight is on all of the time. In the media, all of the talk is about the Old Firm.

If you can’t handle playing in front of huge crowds and getting a bit of stick from fans when you aren’t doing well, then it’s not the club for you.

You need to have the right mentality to play for Rangers and many of those who came in before didn’t have it. When the going got tough they went into hiding.

That is what they have to look at. Having played at Ibrox before, David Weir knows what it takes to become a Rangers player.

They have to look at their backgrounds and their character.

You can have all the ability in the world, but if you don’t have the bottle and the character then there is no point joining Rangers.

The squad is back for pre-season training at the end of this month. The first game is at the end of July. There isn’t a huge amount of time.

I hope the Rangers fans go out and buy their season tickets in large numbers as a result of this appointment.

Rob Kiernan is the first building block as Warburton looks to rebuild

I WASN’T surprised Mark Warburton started off his recruitment drive at Rangers by going for a defender, the Republic of Ireland Under-21 internationalist Rob Kiernan from Wigan.

You build from the back when you are putting together a side. If you can make your rearguard reliable, then you have a foundation to build upon.

If Warburton can get in Danny Wilson, the former Rangers player who still hasn’t signed for anybody despite leaving Hearts last month, then it would be huge step in the right direction.

I don’t know if that one is a goer. I am sure there will be a lot of clubs after Danny, but if the new manager can get him on board along with Kiernan that will be a fantastic start.

When Danny broke into the Rangers team as a teenager he was a fine player and a wonderful passer of the ball.

I think Warburton looks for people who are comfortable in possession and can distribute it well. Danny can certainly do that. He showed last season with Hearts he is solid at the back and good going forward.

I don’t think we can blame him for going to Liverpool. What youngster wouldn’t have moved to Anfield in the same circumstances?

Okay, it didn’t work out for him. He didn’t force his way into the first team down there. But he will have learned a lot from training and working at a top-flight club in England. I think it made him a better player.

Wilson is a good player. If Rangers can get him on a free transfer it would be a terrific bit of business for the Ibrox club.

Warburton needs between eight and 10 players after the squad lost 12 players at the end of the 2014/15 campaign.

When it was announced that Wigan “had accepted a bid” for Kiernan by Rangers earlier this week I thought it was wonderful.

It was the first time in nearly three years they had bid for a player. Okay, it was only for around £200,000, but things like that are great to hear as it suggests the club is heading in the right direction.

New MD Stewart Robertson knows the score

I WAS pleased to see Rangers had appointed Stewart Robertson, the former Motherwell secretary and director, as their managing director.

Club officials were impressed with what he had to say at an interview. Robertson understands the Scottish game and the size of the club Rangers is.

He has gained invaluable experience with Motherwell and, while this will be a step up for him, he is highly regarded within our national sport. I am sure he’ll do well.

He is a qualified chartered accountant who has previously served on the SPL board. I think it is important for a sensible and professional individual to be in there overseeing the day-to-day running of the club.

John Gilligan, Dave King and Paul Murray have done their homework and asked around about who the top administrators in the country are. Like the manager, he will start from scratch now.

Robertson has been at a club which was toiling financially, so he has had to deal with difficulties in the past. He is experienced and everyone seems confident he is good at what he does.

I would think that because Dave is in South Africa there are only so many times he can come across to this country. But I am sure that he will take a great interest in the running of the club.

John and Paul will also be around the club as often as possible. I am sure they will all be taking hands-on roles in the running of the club.

But I think the directors are keen now to take a back seat and let all the stories about Rangers get on the back pages instead of the front pages.

It doesn’t matter who is in place behind the scenes at Rangers.

What is important is that the football club is important on the park. If that happens, then it can be felt in every other area of the club.

If it doesn’t, then the club toils.

Barcelona Bears pay tribute to Colin Jackson

ALL of the surviving members of the 1972 European Cup Winners’ Cup-winning team will be at Ibrox tomorrow to pay tribute to our old Rangers team-mate Colin Jackson.

A memorial service is being held in the Ibrox Suite at the stadium, and all of the Barcelona Bears, as well as many of Bomber’s old team- mates, will be there. I am sure it will be packed.

It is still hard to believe big Colin has gone. He is badly missed.

Your question for Derek Johnstone

KENNY FERGUSON of Paisley asked: “Were you surprised to see Mark Warburton didn’t enjoying working under Jock Wallace?”

Derek said: “I was tickled to see that Mark didn’t see eye-to-eye with Jock during his time at Leicester. You had to get used to Jock. He had his own ways. His strengths were his man-management and his training methods. He got you fit and motivated you to play well for the club.

“I can understand where Mark is coming from in some respects. If you preferred the emphasis to be on tactics and nice football, Jock might not have been for you.

“But I won a European trophy, two Trebles and 14 Scotland caps under big Jock, so he’ll do for me.”

If you have a question for Derek, email him on dj@eveningtimes.co.uk