The mystery over the whereabouts of Mark Warburton deepened yesterday with the former city trader no where to be seen as Joey Barton joined the Scottish Cup runners-up.
Warbo hasn’t said a word in public since watching his side lose 3-2 to Hibs at Hampden with even the club website out of bounds for the normally chatty Londoner.
Scottish Cup sponsors William Hill are believed to be furious that no one from Ibrox was prepared to speak after the Hampden defeat but four days on there is still no word from the Ibrox boss.
Barton’s signing was announced alongside pictures and quotes from assistant manager Davie Weir who also accompanied the former Burnley ace when he visited the club the previous weekend.
Since he arrived at Ibrox Warbo has been keen to share his views on anything and everything. As well as the regular round of interviews last week the Ibrox boss popped up on TalkSport and Sky Sports to try and maintain his profile south of the border.
Always keen to talk up his big name connections Warbo took time off from his cup final build up to discuss Brendan Rodgers being linked to Celtic.
He said: “If Brendan ?got the job, I’d welcome it. Relish it. You want to work against various managers. We are a good club, we are in good shape and we’re looking forward to next season.
“Whoever we face will be a tough opponent but Brendan brings a wealth of experience having worked at the highest level. I think he would be a great opponent.
“I think it raises the profile of the Scottish game, which could only be good, and brings another level of excitement and interest to the fixtures.
“I know Brendan fairly well having worked with him at Watford. I was the academy manager and he came in as manager.”
Warbo’s public disappearance has led to rumours of trouble behind the scenes with some claiming that he is unhappy at being used to talk up season ticket sales without any evidence of Dave King investing his £30m family warchest.
Until last week the former Brentford boss had been happy to comply with every request including the ludicrous claim that he prefers to work with a tight squad which saw two empty places on the bench against Hibs with just five substitutes named while Alan Stubbs listed seven.
Warbo’s silence since Saturday coupled with the arrival of Barton on a £25,000/week deal could easily be linked with dressing room harmony important to the Ibrox boss.
Until he speaks out it’s likely that speculation will increase that all isn’t well in the blue room of dignity with season ticket sales crucial at this time of year.
While his new team mates return for pre-season training towards the end of June Barton will be covering Euro 2016 as a pundit for TalkSport and Irish television station TV3.
