Rangers will receive funds needed to challenge Celtic, says vice-chairman Paul Murray

Warburton stressed he will require further funds to strengthen his squad in the summer after his side had defeated Celtic in a penalty shoot-out in the William Hill Scottish Cup semi-final at Hampden on Sunday.

READ MORE: Rangers chairman moved to tears by Scottish Cup semi-final win

The Englishman, whose side has already won the Championship and Challenge Cup this season, yesterday revealed that he had spoken to Dave King, the chairman and major shareholder, and will hold further talks this week.

The 53-year-old admitted that he would have to recruit more players than he had first anticipated in the close season if Rangers beat Hibs in the Scottish Cup final next month and qualify for next season’s Europa League.

However, Murray has stressed that Warburton, who has recruited well on a small budget since being appointed last summer, would get the backing he needs to launch a credible challenge for the Scottish title in the 2016/17 campaign.

“We believe in Mark and his team,” he said. “We have supported him so far and we will do it again going forward.

“Our recruitment is underway. We have plans in place, but we need to continue to do our research and Frank McParland (Rangers Head of Recruitment) is an important guy in that regard. If we could get into Europe it would be fantastic. We didn’t budget for it so financially it would be good.

“But it’s more about status. To get into Europe would help in recruiting players and it is the stage Rangers should be on. What a way to end our four years by winning the Scottish Cup and qualifying for Europe. That would be wonderful. Of course there is a lot to do to achieve that and there are important games before then.”

READ MORE: Rangers chairman moved to tears by Scottish Cup semi-final win

Warburton revealed that he had already presented the Rangers board with his signing targets – but stressed that he is keen to keep his squad lean next season and did not necessarily intend to spend large sums.

“I’ve never looked at budgets,” he said. “It’s us now, we put forward individual players and the lines of communication have been great. We’ve put forward our options in various positions and what we think we need to add some quality to the current squad.

“We get feedback on that straight away and from that feedback we know where we are. But if you have so many players that are not involved in the squad, too big a squad is far more damaging than too small a squad.

“We are closing the gap on the team which is at the top of the Premiership - if it’s Celtic, Aberdeen or Hearts. But closing the gap doesn’t necessarily mean spending lots of money. Closing the gap means improving the quality of our squad.

“It’s not always about spending £2m, £3m, £4m or £10m - whatever it might be. It’s about adding quality and adding characters who fit into our squad. A lot of our homework and research is on the characters, to see how we think they fit in.”

Asked whether he had spoken to King since he had returned to Scotland, Warburton added: “I had a good conversation with him. We will be continuing those discussions at functions tonight and tomorrow night. I’ll get a chance to speak to him in detail. That’s the aim, to talk about things going forward. It’s always better to speak face to face, rather than through emails or phone calls.”

READ MORE: Rangers chairman moved to tears by Scottish Cup semi-final win

Meanwhile, Warburton stressed that he will speak to both Arsenal and Spurs about the possibility of Gedion Zelalem and Dominic Ball, who both featured in the win over Celtic at the weekend, respectively returning to Rangers on loan next season.

“We have to talk to them and between now and the end of the season and find out what their plans are,” he said. “They might have very different plans. They may already have loans allocated for those particular players.

“But what we have to do is show a loan at Rangers is beneficial for their assets. They are two very talented boys and they fit in fantastically well within the group. They are well liked within the group, they contribute to the group.”

READ MORE: Rangers chairman moved to tears by Scottish Cup semi-final win

Elsewhere, Warburton has expressed his unhappiness at Ball being ruled out of the final as a result of the yellow card he picked up against Celtic, his second booking in the competition, and urged the SFA to consider changing their rules.

“I’m gutted for him,” he said. “I hate to see any player of any team miss a final. Dom Ball yesterday was outstanding for a lad of 20-years-old playing out of position. He misses the final for a fairly innocuous yellow card. That’s tough.

“It is above my pay grade, but I think there should be some sort of rule change. When players are missing maybe a once-in-a-lifetime experience it’s a harsh one.”

Warburton also admitted the three week break between the Ibrox club’s final Ladbrokes Championship match and the Scottish Cup final will be awkward.

Rangers will take on St Mirren in Paisley in their final league game of the 2015/16 season in Paisley on Sunday, May 1 – and will next play against Hibs at Hampden on Saturday, May 21.

READ MORE: Rangers chairman moved to tears by Scottish Cup semi-final win

Warburton revealed the Championship winners, who will be presented with the league trophy after the game against Alloa at Ibrox on Saturday, could go abroad or to England to play a friendly match.

“It’s a tough one,” he said. “It’s an awkward gap a really awkward gap. We might give the boys four or five days off. We might go away and play a game overseas, we might go down south, we’ll work it out. It can be great for you, the boys have three or four days, recharge, come back and train like demons and smash it or mentally you subconsciously switch off.

“It can do or you could lose fitness and sharpness as well. It can go both ways. So it’s important we get that balance right. So we’ll work and hopefully make the right decision.”