MARK WARBURTON, the Rangers manager, would welcome a chance to enter a ‘B’ side in the Scottish league system in a bid to improve the quality of player attempting to break into his first team squad. Warburton has farmed out several of his top young talents on loan deals as he looks to give them valuable first team experience this term.
Former Scottish Football League chief David Longmuir proposed the introduction of Old Firm colt teams as part of a shake-up of our game three years ago. Warburton is open to discussing the idea with the SPFL and believes it is one that has plenty of merit as he looks to improve the standard of players that emerge through the Murray Park ranks in the coming years.
"It's just my opinion that I'm fan of doing that,” he said. “I love the idea that you can have a B team play in competitive leagues. My point was about how best do we challenge the younger league talents. We've got to give them the best chance of maximising their potential and to do that they need a higher quality of challenge.
"You can never replicate three points on a Saturday afternoon alongside players who are maintaining their families and paying their mortgages. Every point means something to them and that doesn't happen in U20 football so I want our players to be challenged as best as possible to prepare them for the transition to first team football.”
Warburton may be thinking long-term at Ibrox but it is Rangers’ bid for the Championship title that is top of his to-do list in the next few weeks. Rangers are currently eight points clear of Hibernian at the top of the table and are on course to complete their journey back to Scotland’s top flight.
That would see them meet Old Firm rivals Celtic on league duty once again next term and the prospect of experiencing derby day in Glasgow is one that the Englishman is relishing.
“It’s fantastic for the fans and for the players to experience a game of that nature and it has to be our target,” Warburton said. “Four Old Firm games would be tremendous for the city.
"Our targets are very clear, there’s no point masking them. Our targets are for Rangers to return to the top table of Scottish football and kick on from there. We have to prepare accordingly, look at our recruitment, the structure of our training ground, where we can be better and prepare everything for the next level."
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