The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Warburton: I did not resign
Former boss accuses Rangers of ignorance as fallout continues
Rangers and Mark Warburton continue to head for a messy separation as the former Ibrox manager accused the club of ignoring questions over his alleged resignation.
Warburton released a joint statement with his assistant, David Weir, and the club’s former head of recruitment, Frank McParland, in which all three denied resigning.
Rangers have given a different version of events but the outgoing management team claimed they were still waiting on answers five days after learning of their departure.
The Ladbrokes Premiership club are now looking for a new manager – and a director of football – but the end of their former boss’s employment looks like it will be a lot more complicated and protracted than the immediate termination they were keen to secure.
The statement, released by the League Managers Association, read: “Much has been said over the last few days relating to our departure from Rangers Football Club.
“At this stage, for legal reasons, it is inappropriate for us to comment in any great detail on our departure from the club.
“However, given that the club has seen fit to make detailed public statements, it is important that we should clarify certain matters and as such we would like to formally place on record, that at no stage did we resign from our positions at Rangers.
“It is a matter of surprise to us, and to the League Managers Association (LMA), which is advising all three of us, that despite its detailed public statements, the club has not answered key questions put to it by the LMA, in writing, requesting an explanation of why it suggested that we resigned from our positions.”
Rangers released a statement on Friday that claimed the management team had come to an agreement to leave via their joint representative.
Chairman Dave King followed that up on Saturday with a lengthy update which criticised Warburton for his response to boardroom scrutiny and accused him of a lack of commitment to the club.
King claimed that after a meeting, their agent: “Subsequently offered that Mark, David and Frank would resign with
immediate effect without compensation as long as the club, in turn, agreed to waive compensation from any new club that they signed for.
“After discussion the board accepted this offer and employment was immediately terminated.
“While we were dealing with the admin and press releases relating to the resignation the agent again contacted us and asked to defer the resignation until the management had secured a new club.
“I assume that the new deal had somehow collapsed at the last minute.
“The board met to consider this request but resolved to hold them to the original agreement.”
Warburton’s reputation with the Rangers support has nosedived but he and his colleagues were keen to stress their gratitude to fans and players for their backing during their 20 months in charge.
Their statement continued: “For all three of us, it was an absolute privilege to be given the opportunity to work at a club that is so rich in tradition and history.
“It was an honour to be given the responsibility of returning the club to the top tier of Scottish football and we are very proud to have played our part in successfully securing promotion back to the Scottish Premiership.
“Winning the Petrofac Scottish Challenge Cup and beating Celtic, in a memorable semi-final to reach the Scottish Cup Final, are experiences we will never forget.
“We sincerely thank the Rangers fans for their unwavering passion and dedication. We had the good fortune to meet so many outstanding individuals and supporters of the club and we will always value their words of encouragement. We wish them great success for the seasons ahead.
“The current group of players, together with the staff at the training ground and Ibrox, have borne the huge weight of responsibility of taking a massive club back to the top flight. They should be proud of their togetherness and their work ethic.
“It has been a pleasure to work with them, and we would like to thank each and every one of them for their commitment and contribution.”
Ibrox managing director Stewart Robertson hopes that plans for a new management structure – headed by a director football – will ensure the Light Blues enjoy more seamless transitions when they change bosses in future.
He told the club’s official website: “As a club we want to be a modern football club, and we see that sometimes when managers leave a lot of the structure leaves with them.
“That is no use, you put a lot of time a lot of investment and a lot of resource into developing that side of the business and you can’t have that changing every time a manager changes.
“The director of football gives you that continuity.
We haven’t at this stage spoken to anyone about the manager or director of football roles. We are just gathering the facts and we will take our time as they are two key roles.”