MARK WARBURTON reckons he would have derailed Celtic if he had been given the resources at Ibrox.
However, the Govan club’s former boss, who left under a cloud in February 2017, insists some folk “panicked” as Brendan Rodgers enjoyed a spectacular silverware clean sweep in his debut campaign at Parkhead in season 2016/17.
When he left the struggling outfit, they were 19 points adrift of the unstoppable title kings.
Warburton might have anticipated the fall-out when his side were walloped 5-1 at Parkhead in his first meeting against the Irishman in September 2016 when the champions ran amok with Moussa Dembele thumping in a hat-trick while Scott Sinclair and Stuart Armstrong joined in during a one-sided encounter.
The Englishman, now with Championship side Queens Park Rangers after being sacked by Nottingham Forest, is still convinced he could have turned things around.
Asked if he had been afforded time and received financial backing could he have stopped the Hoops juggernaut, Warburton told the Scottish Sun on Sunday: “I’ve no doubts, none whatsoever.
WARBURTON WOE…Moussa Dembele scores another goal against the Ibrox side.
“I always emphasised the financial gap, the need to lessen the disparity between the spending power of the two clubs and the absolute requirement for time and patience to build a strong and sustainable challenge.
“The simple fact is that Celtic and Brendan Rodgers had their record year, unrivalled in their history, and people panicked.
“I spoke about ‘regressing to the norm’ and was mocked by certain so-called ‘experts’ up there.
“But that is exactly what happened. Time is the one commodity not afforded to managers in Glasgow.”
Warburton, though, did reveal one Parkhead performer he would have been delighted to have had in his squad during his stint in Govan.
Queried about which of Rodgers’ players he most admired, he replied: “It’s not really good for a Rangers manager to talk about Celtic players, but I would say Tom Rogic.
“He had the cleverness and the technical ability to unlock defences and was a fine player in the derbies I experienced.”
