Former Rangers manager Mark Warburton has revealed that when he was considering taking over at Ibrox he viewed the post as the perfect stepping stone to a job in the Premier League.
Warburton started his managerial career with Brentford in League One and guided the Bees to the Championship in 2014, before being appointed as Rangers manager in 2015.
Under Warburton, Rangers won the Scottish Challenge Cup and gained promotion to the Scottish Premiership.
The 56-year old has revealed that prior to his contact with Rangers, he spoke with some Championship clubs, but chose the Gers because he saw the opportunity to manage in the Premier League by making his mark at Ibrox.
“I'd seen about five or six Championship clubs, got to the point of talking terms with one or two of them”, Warburton said in an interview with Open Goal.
“Then we met with Rangers in London, they came to see us and we had a follow up meeting with them and I knew then [I wanted the job].
“In my mind, I am thinking I want to manage in the Premier League.
“I haven't got a playing career, I've been at a small club like Brentford, saying small in the right way, no Premier League team are going to take me.
“They won't take me as it currently stands.
“If I can go to Rangers, get them promoted, get into Europe within two, three years, and do really well with Rangers, I either stay at a fantastic club in Rangers, or I get poached to go to the Premier League.
“And that was the only way I was going to do it.
“That's not a bad choice, if you've got the choice of Rangers or the Premier League you're a very lucky man.”
Warburton’s spell at Rangers did not go as planned as the club parted ways with him in February 2017 after an indifferent run of form that saw the Gers fall too far behind arch-rivals Celtic in the Scottish Premiership.
