I NOTICED Mark Warburton has been linked with the manager’s post at Everton and it’s just a further indication of the great job he is doing at Rangers. He was quick to deny the speculation and laugh it off saying it will be Real Madrid or Barcelona chapping at the door next. But it’s something I expect will continue throughout the summer, given his track record with Brentford and now a terrific first season at Ibrox. Any time there is a vacancy at a Championship club down south or maybe even some Premier League clubs, you’ll inevitably see the bookies or the media throwing Warburton’s name in as a possible contender. That’s something the Rangers fans will just need to get used to.

It’s always great as a player or manager to be wanted but I don’t think Mark is of a mind to go anywhere. We all know his background working in the City and all that entailed but he’s now made his money for when he’s older. He doesn’t need to chase things financially so I think he just wants to enjoy being a manager. He took over a club last summer that was down on its knees and brought them back to the big time. He’s won the title, lifted the Petrofac Cup and taken the team to the Scottish Cup final and that’s just the start of it. There’s now so much more to look forward to next year. Rangers are back in the top division, there will be four Old Firm league games and possibly European football too. So I don’t think Mark is going to throw all that away.

He signed a three-year deal last summer, and with two years still to run on that, I would expect him to at least see that through. After that deal’s up in 2018 then we’ll see what happens. I would expect if he was to be successful over the next few seasons then Rangers would offer him an extension and a better deal. We all know that down south he could quadruple his salary but I don’t know if money alone would be enough to tempt him away at this stage.

He’s certainly an honourable man. I know nowadays that doesn’t always count for a lot, with people jumping as soon as someone starts wafting pound notes under their nose. But I don’t think Mark’s that type of person. I think he’s at Rangers to achieve something of substance. He knows it’s a massive club and if he can take them back to where they were five or six years ago, fighting at the very top for honours, then I think he could eventually move on to a new challenge at some point in the future happy with everything he has achieved. But I just can’t see him leaving this summer, especially when there is much more to look forward to in the years ahead.

He has done the hard bit, the unglamorous bit if you like, of taking Rangers out of the Championship at the first attempt. Now people will say that was what he was expected to do given his superior resources but Rangers under three different managers couldn’t do it the previous season so there is no such thing as a done deal in football. The pressure was on him as Rangers certainly did not want a third season in the Championship but he was able to stand up and get it done. He came into an environment that he didn’t know a huge amount about beforehand, assembled virtually a team from scratch, and gone on to win the league fairly comfortably. His signing record has been excellent, and there is nothing to suggest he won’t be able to do something similar this summer and get Rangers ready for the Premiership. I’m sure that prospect is one that will excite him which is why I can’t see other offers – if they arrive – turning his head. He has unfinished business still at Ibrox.

He’s enjoying what he is doing and that is half the battle. He loves living in the city, the fans adore him, he’s got a great group of players who are clearly taking on board his message, he’s got a terrific assistant in David Weir to keep him right so there’s so much going for him. Everything is set up for him to take the club to the next level and I’d be amazed if he doesn’t want to be the man to do that. He’s started a job and he’ll want to finish it. I can’t see him upping sticks and turning his back on that after just one season. There’s still a Scottish Cup final to come on the horizon and if that goes well then there will be Europa League football ahead of him come the summer. This is the sort of thing that persuaded him to give up that lifestyle in the City and take a chance in football. I can’t see him going anywhere for some time yet.