MARK Warburton last night revealed he will this week sign a contract extension with Rangers that will commit him to the Ibrox club until 2019.

Warburton had been bemused by reports this summer that talks with the Ladbrokes Championship winners over an improved deal had broken down.

They had led to intense online speculation that the 53-year-old, who was linked with vacancies at Fulham, Queens Park Rangers and Swansea last season, was set to return to England.

The former Brentford boss, who won the second tier title and Petrofac Training Cup in his first season in Scotland, was adamant that negotiations had simply been put on hold while he was away on holiday.

He confirmed that both he and his assistant Davie Weir, who had been under contract until 2018, had finally agreed enhanced terms with Rangers and would put pen to paper in the coming days, possibly even today.

The news will delight Rangers supporters who were already looking forward to their team, who have brought in household names Joey Barton and Niko Kranjcar this summer, getting their top flight campaign underway next month with great anticipation.

They were impressed by the attractive brand of attacking football that Rangers played as they beat main rivals Falkirk and Hibs to the Championship by a comfortable 11 point margin.

At a promotional event held in conjunction with golf manufacturer Callaway at Ibrox last night featuring several Rangers players and some of the competitors in the Open at Royal Troon this week, Warburton was happy to set the record straight.

“I will be signing a deal this week,” he said. “I’ve agreed a deal with the club to commit longer term, for another year until 2019.

“People were asking ‘why hasn’t he signed?’. But I was away on holiday. The owner and the board were also busy.

“Suddenly it was ‘Warburton’s not signing’ and ‘the club haven’t done this or that’. It wasn’t like that at all. I went on holiday for two weeks to avoid divorce and the club were busy anyway.”

Warburton once again underlined his happiness at Rangers and reiterated that his goal is to turn the Glasgow club, who have spent four years in the lower leagues, into the dominant force in Scottish football once again.

The former City of London trader, who had only spent a season and a half as a manager at Griffin Park before taking over, had asked players to commit their futures to the Ibrox club when he was recruiting both last year and this summer.

As well as Barton and Kranjcar, he has strengthened his squad with the signings of Matt Crooks, Matt Gilks, Clint Hill, Lee Hodson, Jordan Rossiter and Josh Windass in recent weeks.

Warburton, who will come up against the Celtic team managed by Brendan Rodgers, his former colleague at Watford, in the 2016/17 campaign, revealed he had no qualms pledging himself to Rangers for another three years.

“I have thoroughly enjoyed being at Rangers,” he said. “It is a privilege to be Rangers manager. I hope very much the club think we had a good season last year and that they are happy with how myself, David, the staff and players have performed. It is nice combination to have.

“David is in the same situation. We will both sign new deals, probably tomorrow, another year’s extension on the current deals.

“We said last year we started laying the foundations for what is a long term project. We can now get our teeth into it and push forward. We know what we have to do, we know where the club wants to be.”