ALEX MCLEISH hopes Mark Warburton has learned the lessons from his first Old Firm loss as he prepares for another Celtic showdown this weekend.

The Rangers boss saw his side crash to a 5-1 defeat at Parkhead last month as the Gers’ Premiership title bid suffered another blow.

Warburton has been irked by some of the criticism and comment directed at the Light Blues during a disappointing start to the campaign.

But former Ibrox boss McLeish knows handling the media is all part of the job as Warburton looks to ease the pressure with a derby victory at Hampden.

McLeish said: “Time, they say, is a healer. Mark Warburton obviously wasn’t anticipating the backlash. But I spoke to him afterwards and said to him ‘Welcome to the real Old Firm.’

“I think he learned a lot from that encounter. Not only was the game an education for him but the press that he got and learning to deal with that.

“These are new things in his coaching career and it’s an education. The thing for Mark is to show how much he has learned from that experience.

“You can’t put extra quality into the players if it is not there in the first place. They have got a lot of young players back in the team.

“Kranjcar looks like he is finding his feet again and these are vital parts of the game plan that need to come together for him if he is to be successful in this game.

“It’s as fierce as derby as there is on the whole planet – and that includes the Press as well. I remember after one of my first reverses against Celtic I thought: ‘hang on, wait a minute, I thought I would get a bit more understanding than that.’

“You have to take it in and not react too much in a negative way and try and learn from the experience.”

Rangers will look to kick-start their season when they face Brendan Rodgers’ side for a place in the Betfred Cup final on Sunday.

Boss Warburton refused to speak to BT Sport during the coverage of the Gers’ win over Inverness Caley Thistle on Friday evening.

But McLeish insists the 54-year-old should always face the music and look to silence his critics by getting wins on the board.

“Absolutely [I always fronted up],” McLeish, who was appearing on behalf of BT Sport, said.

“As much as you didn’t want to sometimes, especially if you got a defeat, although Mark won the other night.

“You would kind of delay it and keep shouting at the players for the next 45 minutes so you wouldn’t have to do the press! But I never avoided doing the press, I think it’s your duty.

“Sir Alex probably done something that nobody will ever do again. You’re thinking at some stage they would be waiting to get him, but they never got him because he was too successful.

“I think though that by and large everybody has to pay respect to the guys that are writing stuff and commentating, especially when you’ve got good sponsorship and it’s part of that sponsorship to speak on your club’s behalf.

“Yeah [you take it personally], but I always kept my powder dry. You did think that there was one guy who wrote differently from the others or whatever, but I never held a grudge.

“I always thought that just getting results would make a world of difference. I’m not criticising Mark, I’m just saying that it’s a learning curve and it’s new for him because he’s come into the game quite late as a head coach.

“He’s adapted to it brilliantly with the job he did at Brentford and the relative success he’s had at Rangers getting them back.”

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