RANGERS legend John Brown is confident the Ibrox crowd will buy into the Mark Warburton way after seeing their side in action for the first time this week.

The Light Blues went down 1-0 at home to Burnley on Tuesday night as former Falkirk midfielder Scott Arfield netted the only goal of the game to condemn Warburton to defeat on his home bow.

The new Gers boss handed starts to summer signings Wes Foderingham, James Tavernier, Danny Wilson, Rob Kiernan, Andy Halliday and Martyn Waghorn, while midfielder Jason Holt turned out as a trialist before putting pen to paper on a three-year deal last night.

Despite the defeat, there were plenty of positives for punters and Warburton as thoughts turn to the cup clash with Hibernian on Saturday.

And former Ibrox defender Brown was encouraged by the opening signs after an impressive first outing from the new-look Gers side.

He said: “My early thoughts are good. The new players did well. Two of them (Tavernier and Waghorn) only came up the day before and had 20 minutes of training, so it’s about getting an understanding.

“David Templeton and Barrie McKay played and the manager will find out who is going to be good enough. He has until the end of August to make any other signings and I think Rangers still need a few.

“I thought they passed the ball well enough. Maybe they were a bit harem-scarem at times with Danny Wilson dribbling past people, but if the manager wants them to play that way, the longer it goes the more they’ll improve.

“There’s a long way to go and it will take a couple of months until they get to know each other.”

The Burnley clash was a chance for the Ibrox crowd to see Warburton’s new recruits in action ahead of the big kick-off and all of the arrivals coped well on their home bows.

WARBURTON has scoured the English lower leagues for most of his recruits since beginning his shopping spree with the capture of former Hearts skipper Wilson.

And Brown is pleased to see the Gers boss adopting a sensible approach in the transfer market rather than chasing bigger names and splashing the cash as the rebuilding job continues at Ibrox.

He said: “What marquee signing would want to come and play in the Championship? Seriously.

“And would Rangers really want to throw their budget out of the window to accommodate one player and create disharmony in the dressing room? I don’t think so.

“He’s got young players who are willing to listen. They are hard-working and will be energised by the management.

“There’s also stability in the boardroom and hopefully this season it’s all about the football.

“That’s vital. You don’t know what’s going on behind the scenes, but you’ve just got to hope everything is okay. I know the directors there and they are all Rangers men.

“Okay, you don’t know the ins and outs of contracts behind the scenes, but you are hoping the board that’s in place can deal with that and allow the manager to totally focus and take any heat away from the first-team squad.”

One man who could yet make a move to Ibrox in the coming weeks is Hibs star Scott Allan as Warburton continues his search for reinforcements this summer.

Hibs last night rejected a bid from Rangers for the influential playmaker and Brown reckons landing Allan would be a significant blow to Rangers’ main Championship title rival.

Speaking at the launch of ‘Spohrt’, a new advisory service for sports stars, he said: “Allan is going to be one of the best midfield players in the league. He proved against Rangers he’s a handful.

“If Rangers get him, that will cost Hibs the league.

“It would be a massive coup for Rangers because, with him in the middle of the park with Halliday and Law, and the boy Holt, there would be good options there. It would really strengthen Rangers.”