IT is one thing to understand the expectation, it is quite another to be able to rise to it and deliver when the pressure is on. Thankfully for Rangers, Mark Warburton and his players have done just that this season.

A campaign that started out with an overhaul and a clean slate is now set to have its most significant moment to date if Rangers can clinch the Championship crown this evening. With two trips to Hampden to come in the next few days, a good term could become a great one.

For Warburton, his first few months at Ibrox have been eye-opening. Life in the Glasgow goldfish bowl is far different from that at Brentford but the Englishman is on the brink of accomplishing what he set out to do for the Light Blues.

Victory over Dumbarton tonight will clinch the Championship crown. The fact that Rangers have emerged as the top team in the second tier is no surprise, but the achievement is a significant one for Warburton.

He said: “We’ve had to earn it. We are expected to win the league, so deal with it.

“The fans want them to win after what they’ve been through in the last four or five years.

“We are expected to do it but achieving it is a different thing. The players have responded, recognised responsibility and have done well.

“Don’t forget we had 16 players going out over the summer. Eleven players came in during the first four or five weeks. They’ve had to bed in and to understand the club as they do now is all credit to them.

“It was very clear. The club had to get back to the top tier of Scottish football. The target was very clear and David (Weir) and I like that, I like black and white.

“Last year I had lots of different scenarios like ‘can we avoid relegation’.

“This time it was that the club had to be back in the top flight and then we go hard again. That’s what we have to do.

“It’s the first step in the right direction but it was made very clear to me.

“Nah [it wasn’t a ‘this must happen, or else’ kind of situation], not at all. You don’t start a marriage with a divorce, do you?

“The expectations of the club are made clear and that’s important. I’d far rather that.

“You can work to a structure, and our plan for the club was we had to get back to the top tier.”

It has been a matter of when and where, and not if, Rangers would be crowned champions for some time now as they have raced clear at the top of the table and they will hope to get over the line on home soil against the Sons.

Warburton’s side saw their advantage whittled away in the build-up to the meeting with Hibernian late last year but are now 20 points in front of Alan Stubbs’ side.

There has been the odd upset and moment of concern along the way, but it has mostly been a dominant campaign from the Gers. So, did Warburton ever have any doubts?

He said: “Honestly? No. Please don’t report that in an arrogant way, but the players, the attitude they showed . . . . Detail for us is important, communication is important - the communication within this group is first class.

“I watched the way they adapted to new ideas and the work ethic they displayed, the role of Lee (Wallace) and the senior players, Kenny (Miller), the way the younger players adapted.

“I had no doubts, David had no doubts, none of the staff had any doubts about them being successful. Because everything they showed was first class and is going to get better.

“But they learn from their mistakes. You mentioned the two draws going into the Hibs game - massive pressure, a huge game, 50,000 sell-out, and the players stepped up and responded and were better for it.”

The step into the Premiership will be another one into the unknown for Warburton and his side as they look to compete at a higher level and continue the recovery at Ibrox.

It has been suggested in some quarters that the 53-year-old will not truly understand what being boss at Ibrox means until he has dealt with the pressure of going head-to-head with Celtic for a top flight title.

But Warburton has brushed off fears about his ability to handle the heat when the going gets tough and the spotlight is fixed on him and his players.

He said: “If I’ve been thin-skinned… It doesn’t bother me in the slightest.

“If you’re thin-skinned doing this job, or doing my previous job for the last 20 years, then you don’t last very long. Somehow I’ve scraped through the net for 25 years.

“Unfair. I think it’s nonsense [to say I won’t know what it’s like to be Rangers manager until we are challenging for the Premiership title]. I think it’s absolute nonsense.

“I read a few comments over the last couple of days that I’m living in Candyfloss Land in Lollipop Lane or something if I think that I know what the job entails.

“Am I happy about those comments? It is what it is. I think it’s poor journalism. That’s what I honestly think.

“The fact is it’s a big club and of course you can deal with it. No human being in their right mind… If you lose a game of football, don’t read the back page, because you know there’s going to be something that might irk you. If you win a game of football, great, but that’s the nature of it.

“To say you can’t deal with it is a little bit disrespectful. To call people naive because they haven’t been here before - how can you experience Glasgow Rangers if you’ve never managed it before? I’ve had two million dollars round my body parts and dealt with that.”