THERE are obvious differences between Mark Warburton's relationship with Dave King and the one he enjoyed with his previous chairman at Brentford, Matthew Benham.
Benham used to drag Warburton to the local pub after matches. King has a most enviable wine cellar in South Africa which the current Rangers manager has yet to be invited to.
Benham and Warburton spoke every single day before a difference of opinion over the use of data in determining transfer policy led to a parting of the ways last summer.
King is a little more distanced from his manager. Warburton deals primarily with Stewart Robertson, the managing director, and Andrew Dickson, head of administration, with the details of those conversations being passed onto the board in turn.
None of this troubles Warburton in the slightest. In his mind, King shares one special attribute with Benham which convinces him that they will help re-establish Rangers as a footballing force in the not-too-distant future.
"Like with Matthew, it makes me comfortable knowing that Dave is, essentially, a Rangers fan and the club is in good hands," he said.
"Brentford is a smaller club, so, as sporting director and then manager, I had a more direct relationship with Matthew. I was there for five years so we had time to develop that.
"Sometimes, he'd encourage David Weir and me to go to the local pub with him after games.
"When we got into the play-offs, though, it wasn't exactly a wise move going to the pub on the corner. Thankfully, we emerged unscathed.
"I've not had an invite to Dave's wine cellar in South Africa. I'm sure it's a magnificent setting, but I'm happy in Glasgow and too busy here.
"I see Dave whenever he comes over. The last twice, I've met him and we've had a very pleasant dinner.
"We talked through a few things and it's good to hear from the owner. Likewise, it's good for me to speak about how we see things."
Following a more prosperous spell of late, the past week has been somewhat sobering at Ibrox. Financial results were less than impressive while Lord Drummond Young's judgement that the Employee Benefit Trusts used by the former company in charge of Rangers to pay players and managers between 2001 and 2010 should have been subject to income tax.
This has raised the entire issue of Rangers being stripped of trophies won during that period. Warburton has wisely kept his distance, but admits that listening to the debates has all been part of his education in what makes up the fabric of the club.
"Listen, I came here with no baggage, as an outsider, and I'm getting used to it," he said. "I get asked to try and understand what has happened here in the last three or four years and the recent history of this club.
"I'm here with a blank sheet of paper. I get asked so many questions about looking back, but it's only about going forward.
"David Weir understands it inside-out. His status at the club is such that he understands it.
"The players, like myself, such as Wes Foderingham, Rob Kiernan, Martyn Waghorn, James Tavernier now have got a responsibility to understand what this club means to the fans."
Isn't Warburton staggered, though, by the level of attention paid to payment methods used by a previous regime?
"I see it as the level of passion within the club," he said. "I am a Tottenham fan, born in Tottenham. Tottenham-Arsenal to me was everything. That was the game.
"Nothing could be bigger than that. Then, you come away from it and quickly realise that it's a big game, but, wow, there is such a level of passion here."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel