Mark Warburton tipped to remain at Rangers for the long haul and deliver sustained success at Ibrox

That was the prediction today from former Sporting Lisbon youth chief Diogo Matos – who worked closely with the Englishman during his formative years on the touchline and helped him on the road to management.

Warburton has enjoyed a speedy rise through the game since quitting his City job to become a youth coach and was at the forefront of the revolutionary NextGen series before becoming Brentford boss in 2013.

Trips to the likes of Ajax, Barcelona, Borussia Dortmund and Inter Milan were key to Warburton’s development as a coach but Matos arguably had the biggest helping hand in kick-starting the Londoner’s climb up the ladder.

He now faces his toughest challenge in the game as he looks to lead Rangers to the Championship title and return them to the top of Scottish football.

He has already been linked with several other positions since moving to Ibrox in the summer but Matos believes Warburton is at Rangers for the long-haul as he sets his sights on a sustained period of success.

Matos told SportTimes: “I am not talking on Mark’s behalf, but the way I saw his choice, because he had many offers from other clubs, was to look long-term.

“He was going to the second division in Scotland, but he has joined a big club. He could be playing in the Champions League in two years’ time because that is normal for Rangers.

“They lost money and a lot of big players but they have the fans and there are a lot of people behind them.

“That is the challenge that Mark will embrace. He has went there to fight and to get Rangers back to where Rangers belong.

“I think his commitment is to deliver the project. He was hired for that and he is a man who likes to deliver on his projects.

“In football, the results change everything from a good and bad perspective. I really hope for Mark and for Rangers that things go well and they will go as far as possible together.”

Like Warburton, Matos never hit the heights as a player in a career that saw him play for Academia and Alverca before he made the move to Sporting in 2001.

But the 40-year-old has more than made his mark on the touchline as he spent several years at the head of the hugely successful Sporting youth system.

Last season, he saw Warburton come close to leading Brentford into England’s top flight just months after clinching promotion from League One.

And the Portuguese is confident the Bees’ loss will be Rangers’ gain for years to come if those at Ibrox continue to buy into Warburton’s long-term vision for the future.

He said: “I watched his managerial career as he looked to help Brentford make the jump into the Premier League.

“I am pleased to see him doing well at Rangers. Rangers is a great club.

“Mark has great ideas for football and they are ideas that go with a club, with the people and the players.

“It is good that he can implement his medium to long-term strategy at Rangers. To be a big club and be successful over many years, you have to have a strategy.

“If you just look for the first few results, and sometimes they don’t come as soon as you think, and you change manager, change players then you are always starting from zero.

“Mark has good principles, he knows the game, he knows people and he is a very good leader.

“Being a good man manager in professional football is very important. Players already have knowledge, but they need the right words from a leader to help them.

“I try to talk to him as often as I can but he is very busy working with Rangers. I hope he does very well there.”