Former Rangers manager Mark Warburton has been linked with a return to football, but not as a manager.
Reports this morning suggest he is one of several names being linked with the Technical Director position at Burnley.
Sean Dyche is apparently looking for someone to assist him in the transfer window. Burnley have specialised in getting young British players into the first team and Warburton is highly renowned in the English youth market.
Although some of the risks he took at Rangers with young players didn’t pay off.
Controversial ending at Rangers…
Mark Warburton controversially left Rangers by way of resignation in early 2017. Results had Warburton and Weir under pressure and the Board claimed they’d tendered resignations. So, they let them go.
Warburton denies this, even though the reason quoted came to fruition. Warburton was reported to say by the Ibrox club that they’d leave with no severance. This would make it easier to go to Nottingham Forest. Warburton, McParland and David Weir joined Forest a month later.
Warburton, 56, has been out of work since last New Year’s Eve, when he lost the Forest hotseat.
…but a commendable legacy
Let’s not kid ourselves here. Warburton’s second season in charge was nothing short of abysmal. But Rangers didn’t have much luck with injury, and Celtic were buoyed. The players were also just not good enough.
The former Brentford boss took over the club at an intensely challenging time and steadied the ship. He got us promoted, he had us singing again, and he gave us our captain. You have to feel something changed when he signed.
We moved away from old war horses and started looking younger. We improved dramatically and gave opportunities to young, hungry players. With players still in the squad and a restructuring of the backroom staff and club, you can still feel his legacy. It’s one he kind of turned his back on.
One which we’ve now outgrown in many ways.
Even if he was the last manager to beat Celtic.
