Mark Warburton has claimed that he had the Tribute Act ‘on track and in good shape’ when he was sacked from Ibrox in February 2017. He also had a 27 point gap behind Celtic.
The former city trader used the club’s financial muscle to crush opponents on their way to the 2015/15 Championship title but found the jump in class to full time opponents too much to handle.
Celtic won the first two derby matches of the season, either side of a Betfred Cup semi-final, but there was a further 21 points of a difference when Warbo discovered that he had resigned.
Joey Barton, Nicky Kranjcar, Jordan Rossiter and Joey Garner were all brought in on the sort of contracts that Aberdeen and Hearts couldn’t dream of offering but after being crushed 5-1 at Celtic Park in September it was only a matter of time before Warbo was out of a job.
Rather than own up to his own failings the current QPR boss decided to airbrush history as the Daily Mail celebrated the fifth anniversary of his Ibrox coronation.
Warbo told the Daily Mail:
I have an enormous respect for Brendan. I think Celtic brought him in because we had beaten them (in the 2016 Scottish Cup semi-final) and they felt we were a threat again. They responded.
Brendan then has one of the best years in Celtic’s history. I got lambasted by Chris Sutton and others for saying they will regress to the mean. Sure enough, the next season it returned to a more normal level of games lost and drawn etc. Celtic had had a stellar year.
The target set for us was to get into Europe in the third year as a non-negotiable. We were in the European places in our second year but what took over was: “We can’t be trailing 20 points behind Celtic. This doesn’t happen in Rangers’ history”.
We weren’t the Rangers of 2011 then. We were the Rangers of free transfers and low wages, way behind Celtic’s budget. We had guys who would bleed for the club, but they were coming up against Celtic having a record year.
It was panic, I think. The passion of the rivalry took over and the decision was made but the bigger picture was that we were on track and in good shape.
Graeme Murty and Pedro Caixinha saw the season out after Warbo’s resignation. Murts earned a 1-1 draw at Celtic Park but under the Portuguese James Bond Celtic finished the season 39 points ahead of their city rivals which included a memorable 5-1 hammering at Ibrox.