Rangers boss Mark Warburton insists there are no cracks in his relationship with Hibernian counterpart Alan Stubbs.

The men in charge of the Ladbrokes Championship's two leading clubs have engaged in a tetchy war of words since Warburton took up his post in the summer.

First there was the spat over Gers' attempts to sign Scott Allan, while Stubbs has attempted to turn up the heat on the table-toppers since inflicting the Ibrox side's first league defeat under Warburton's reign earlier this month by claiming a budget four times the size of their rivals means the Glasgow giants should be out in front.

But Stubbs this week appeared to play down the simmering row by admitting: "We're in an entertainment business - we have to make things entertaining."

And Warburton - whose side take a two-point lead and a game in hand into Saturday's trip to Livingston - agreed there was no feud.

"It's just tongue in cheek," said the Englishman. "There's no problems with Alan. We shared a drink after the last game with the staff. We talked about the game and got on well.

"It's the media. It's about rivalry. It's about making headlines and getting excitement, and that's great. It's a competitive world we work in.

"But we respect all these teams. There's no easy games in this league, that's for sure. If you don't prepare well you pay the price."

But Warburton was keen to stress he remains comfortable with his side's position despite seeing his record-breaking start ended by the 2-1 defeat at Easter Road.

Asked how concerned he was, he smiled: "You can tell by the worried look on my face at the moment. We have a game in hand, and if we win that, we are five points clear.

"We've lost one game of football all season, so it's not about Hibs, it's not about Falkirk. It's about Rangers, and from our point of view, all we can do is try to go out there and win every game we play, and if we do that, we will be in good shape.

"If we slip up, other teams may come to the party. We're very respectful of all the other teams, and Hibs have put a tremendous run together - and all credit to them. But it's about us and us doing what we do best."

He added: "We had a big lead at the start. We started strongly but other teams didn't start as strong as Rangers. People are saying Rangers are now faltering but we're not faltering.

"Other teams are closing the gap because their winning games of football. All we can do is put our heads down, focus on Rangers and keep winning games.

"Someone asked me about the game against Hibs on December 28. That's irrelevant. If we lose two or three games in the meantime then it doesn't matter. Our only focus has to be one game at a time. Right now we're geared towards Livingston, a good performance and we'll move on from there."

Warburton this week handed veteran striker Kenny Miller a new 12-month extension to his deal that ties the 35-year-old to Ibrox until the summer of 2017.

And he told the likes of Dean Shiels, Nicky Law, David Templeton and Nicky Clark there is still time for them to secure fresh contracts before their current agreements expire next May.

The former Brentford boss - who also distanced himself from reports suggesting he was weighing up a move for Walsall star striker Tom Bradshaw - said: "It's not about who we bring in in January for these guys. It's about how they do, and they know that.

"The players are working tirelessly and their challenge is to earn that contract.

"Our job is to give them the opportunity to do so. You don't want a player knocking on your door in March saying 'I haven't played all season'. That's not fair. "