HE is laying the foundations but has yet to get his own bricks and mortar. The building blocks are in place for Rangers but Glasgow is not quite home sweet home for Mark Warburton.

The Englishman spoke yesterday about the significance of the fact that the players he brought north of the border in the summer were settling into life in Scotland. They have been joined by their partners, they have moved into new homes and have enrolled their kids in schools.

Since making the move to Ibrox last June, Warburton has made his mark on and off the field as Rangers’ football outlook has been overhauled. The results have been impressive to date and the outcome could be remarkable as his side bid for the Championship title and Petrofac Training Cup and Scottish Cup glory.

The Rangers family have taken him and his players to their hearts, but the relatives the Londoner leaves behind days for a time naturally remain at the forefront of his thoughts.

“Absolutely but, when you have a family and you have building work, and you have animals and everything else, there is a domestic life to be considered,” Warburton said when asked if he would buy a property and put down roots.

“So I could turn around and say yeah I’m buying a house. But who is looking after my dogs?

“We’ve got a job to do and, right now, I’ve got to commit to it.

“If I buy a house up here and my wife never sees me, she might as well be lonely down south. So I’ve got to make sure I can do the job here.

“It’s only eight months into a big job here – and I’ve got to make sure I’m good enough to do the job.

“If I am, and we achieve our target, you know what I’m going to do. I’ll join the local golf club, for sure. If I can get in.

“But right now it’s not about that. It’s about getting used to the city.

“Last night I was at the 20s game and didn’t get home until half nine. You don’t see your family.

“So, if I’m going to move my family up here, I’ve got to know absolutely that I can do the job, I’ve done the job – and I can keep on growing into it.

“So there is no lack of commitment. The lack of commitment would be if I was off playing golf, missing games or whatever.

“The commitment side is making sure the family can move up lock, stock and barrel.

“That’s important. They might as well be lonely in a place they know, with their family nearby.”

Come the end of his first campaign at Ibrox, Warburton could have three medals to his credit and be riding a wave of adulation from supporters as his thoughts turn to the next challenge and a shot at the top flight.

Guiding Rangers to the Championship title is only the first part of the job that Warburton has been tasked with. For all their success so far, greater ones must be forthcoming in future years if he is to leave a Light Blue legacy.

He may only be a few months into his Gers tenure, but the 53-year-old is entering into a key period. With silverware at stake, he knows the rewards are there to be grabbed with both hands.

Warburton said: “I’ve got a job to do. This is a harsh world.

“Last year at Brentford, there was a stage where I was the fifth longest serving manager. Ludicrous.

“I think it was eight months and two weeks for the average tenure of a Championship manager. Outrageous.

“So, for me, I know the job I want to do – I know what we want to achieve at Rangers. And it is a big job.

“It will be when I think we’ve achieved something. I’m sitting here right now having planned our pre-season, confirming our games, what we’re going to do, looking at players. That is great.

“Very naturally, as you achieve something, you can say: ‘Great, now I know what I can do here. I can do this job and grow into it’.

“It’s not about is Mark Warburton going to stay at Rangers. Do Rangers want him?

“It works both ways with football clubs. Everyone thinks it’s about managers walking away.

“It’s not. They have to do their job – and a club like this here won’t accept us coming third in the Championship. That doesn’t work.

“An achievement would be the title. Our job, very clear, is to win the Championship. Anything else is a bonus.”

Warburton may not have been joined by his family north of the border yet but he has surrounded himself with key personnel at Ibrox and Murray Park.

His strike rate in the transfer market has been impressive as he has transformed the Gers squad in recent months with the help of assistant manager David Weir.

They are the two figureheads of Rangers’ football operation, but Warburton reckons he has the best people for the job right down through each level as he rebuilds the Light Blues’ football department.

He said: “We worked really hard from pre-season, we did everything with the ball. I spoke a lot to you about the environment and the support staff.

“Everyone generally focuses their budgets on getting the best players. But you also need the best staff around.

“So I’m confident we’ve got the best staff around for the players. We’ve got people up from down south, we’ve got people from Scottish clubs. I think, and I believe Davie too, that we’ve got the best staff.

“That goes a long way to achieving success. The masseur is outstanding, the physio guys, the analyst, the chef in the kitchen — everything is outstanding.

“So if we can maintain that, and the boys enjoy coming to work, then they’ll also work well.

“Any job, if you enjoy going to the office and the environment’s good, it’s productive, then you work well. So I think the players here work very well.”