Mark Warburton: Why I'd rather stay at Rangers than replace Brendan Rodgers at Liverpool

MARK WARBURTON is “flattered” to be linked to the Liverpool job, but he hopes to be at Rangers long enough to see them in the Champions League.

 

The Englishman yesterday picked up his second successive Championship Manager of the Month award after securing nine straight league wins. His striker Martyn Waghorn was named Player of the Month for his recent scoring exploits.

Warburton’s blistering start at Ibrox prompted one bookie to make him 20/1 sixth favourite to become the next Anfield boss.

That certainly raised a few eyebrows among football fans, but the fact Warburton was even mentioned alongside Jurgen Klopp and Carlo Ancelotti shows that the job he has done so far at Rangers hasn’t gone unnoticed.

 

While the former Brentford manager’s stock is on an upward trajectory, he insists his achievements can only truly be judged at the end of the season.

Warburton said: “To be linked to these type of jobs is obviously very, very flattering, but for us it is about doing a really good job here. That is how your stock rises – doing a really good job over a long period of time. 

“Just over three months isn’t long enough to say you’ve done a really good job. It’s only 25 per cent of the season. 

“Our job is to keep building here.”

With the average tenure of a manager in England less than 15 months, Warburton knows people in his profession rarely get time to implement their long-term plans at clubs.

But he is determined to do so at Rangers and wants to lead them back among Europe’s elite.

Warburton said: “Don’t forget the industry we are in. At one stage I was the fifth longest-serving manager at Brentford. That’s how bizarre it is. 

“Sometimes you don’t have a choice about whether you stay, it is about having a clear job to do. 

“The targets are really clear here. My job is to take this club as high as possible, as quickly as possible. If we can reach the Champions League with Rangers, fantastic. There’s not much higher.”

Former London stockbroker Warburton sees players as valuable assets on a balance sheet who have to be nurtured properly, especially the ones he has brought in on loan from the English Premier League.

He said: “To get those loan players in we need to create the right environment for the big Premier League clubs to be willing to give them to us because they’re important balance-sheet items.

“That sounds harsh but that’s what Nathan Oduwa, Dominic Ball and Gedion Zelalem are, so we need to provide the right environment to look after one of their assets.

“Describing them in that way is not being disrespectful – far from it. But at the end of the day football is a business and they are balance-sheet items.

“Gareth Bale joining Real Madrid is not about him being a great guy – he’s an £80million asset. 

“Football’s financial climate is changing and these players are highly prized commodities and our job is to look after them and help them develop.”