MARK WARBURTON, the Rangers manager, has welcomed the claims from chairman Dave King that his side should target the Premiership title next season. Rangers have won their first nine matches under the guidance of Warburton and are five points clear at the top of the Championship table ahead of their match at home to Livingston this afternoon.

Speaking on Thursday, King insisted the gap between Rangers and Old Firm rivals Celtic was not as big as he initially thought it was and that it would not be unrealistic to expect the Ibrox side to compete for the top tier title should they win promotion this season.

Rangers missed out on a place in the Premiership after suffering a play-off final defeat to Motherwell in May but an impressive start to the campaign under Warburton has raised expectation levels in the stands, and seemingly in the boardroom.

"It's great to hear the support from the chairman and the optimistic, aggressive desire of the owner,” Warburton said. “From our point of view, we would need to add some quality to the squad to mount that type of campaign next year.

“We are not naive, we are very aware of the strengths of an Aberdeen or a Celtic and these guys because they have been playing European football and have budgeted accordingly. But I look at our team now and I think we have a number of players who can more than compete at the next level and they are young. Our keeper is 23, our right back is 23, our two centre halves are 23, Lee Wallace has just turned 28, but he is captain, Andy Halliday, 23. We have loan players at 18, 19, Barrie McKay is 20, Martyn Waghorn is 25.

“We are a young team, a really young team. They are hungry, they will get better, they are only 12 or 13 weeks into the season so they will improve, that's our job to keep pushing them and working with them.

“So I don't think we are far away. I think we need three or four players and we will use the loan market again, so that might make it five or six players in total, but the fact is I don't think we are that far away."

Warburton has spent time in King’s company in recent days after the chairman returned to Glasgow for a board meeting and a headline grabbing press conference this week. It has been a hugely encouraging start to life at Ibrox for Warburton and the 53-year-old is pleased with the vision for the future both on and off the park.

“I really enjoyed our conversations,” he said of his meetings with King. “All I can say is that we have a chairman who is really positive about the club and very confident about where the club can go. He has given us all the support we need. That is all you want as a manager or coach.”