February 10 marked five years to the day that Mark Warburton left Rangers in what were controversial circumstances, to say the least.
The intervening years between that chaotic day and now have been laden with impressive victories, various low points, dreadful signings, and of course, the greatest title triumph in the club’s history. Had those events in February 2017 been avoided, would title number 55 have arrived sooner?
Mark Warburton may have led the club to glory had Rangers exit been avoided
The Englishman claimed that he didn’t speak to anyone at Nottingham Forest a few days prior to him leaving the Ibrox side in 2017 [GlasgowTimes]. With the 59-year-old adamant, he didn’t offer his resignation, whatever happened on that Friday evening might never be known.
Warburton arrived in Glasgow in the summer of 2015 and was determined to make his mark. The Gers won the Scottish Championship and the Challenge Cup, also losing narrowly in the Scottish Cup final in what would have been a unique treble to have won.
Initial signs were good, and although Celtic dominated under Brendan Rodgers during his stint with the side in the Scottish Premiership, there are still fleeting thoughts of what might have happened had he remained in his post.
For a start, the Pedro Caixinha reign would never have happened, the six-month spell that was a shambles from the very beginning and featured a shocking European exit to Progres Niederkorn in July 2017 that left the Ibrox faithful shellshocked.
Graeme Murty would never have had his spells as a caretaker manager either, something that didn’t exactly inspire the side.
I believe Warburton would have led us to some form of success, it would have been interesting to see how he would have gotten on when Rodgers left Celtic, and Neil Lennon came in.
In an alternative universe, we may have seen Rangers win title number 55 in 2019 or 2020 if the stability had been in place.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing; it would certainly have made for an interesting period if the Englishman was able to properly rebuild the squad for the demands of the Premiership and European competition.
Having left Rangers, he has managed Nottingham Forest and is now at QPR, where they are in excellent form as they are aiming to make it into the Premier League for the first time in seven years.
Meanwhile, Rangers title hopes could rest on James Tavernier keeping up his incredible goal involvement stat.
