Mark Warburton has claimed that Scott Brown was being paid more money than his entire midfield for the 5-1 Massacre of September 2016.
The former QPR boss was welcomed to Scotland as the messiah in June 2015 with incredible tales surfacing about his time as a ‘city trader’.
A little bit of research suggests that Warbo was on a similar level to Deutsch Bank Paul Murray who was involved in numerous consortiums chasing blazers and brogues.
Apparently Warburton went from dealing in billions in the City of London to take up a job as bus driver of the Watford u-12 side so that he could realise his ambition of taking his stunning ideas into football management. A brief playing career under Jock Wallace at Leicester brought his playing career to a sudden halt.
After beating Celtic in the 2016 Scottish Cup Semi-Final there was no limit to what Warbo could achieve in the game. Adrian Durham predicted that he was a future England manager while others suggested, more modestly that he should become CEO and Performance Director of the SFA as a sideline to working magic at Ibrox.
Strangely Warburton disappeared for four weeks after Hibs lifted the Scottish Cup at Hampden but was back in the spotlight as Joey Barton arrived at Ibrox to the predictable tidal wave of acclaim and predictions.
Judgement day couldn’t be avoided, the gobby Scouser was shouting the odds about Scott Brown and Brendan Rodgers but his first appearance at Celtic Park turned out to be his last in the cherished blue shirt previously worn by Ian Black, Dean Shiels, Andy Little and Kevin Kyle.
Nico Kranjcar, Phillipe Senderos, Joey Garner and future England skipper Jordan Rossier had also been lured to Ibrox but a six goal thriller was the beginning of the end for Warbo with the myth left in tatters.
Bleating to The Sun, the former Ibrox boss claimed:
Everyone looked at the signing of Joey Barton and presumed the budget was there. But, let me tell you, I had players on £5,000 a week, £4,000 a week, £3,000 a week, £2,500 a week.
Our midfield was still a FRACTION of Scott Brown’s salary. It was a very uneven playing field then, although I still had Kenny Miller and Lee Wallace who, at their best, would fit into any squad but it was the spread of the quality across the squad compared with Celtic.
As most city traders will realise 5/2 is every bit as much of a fraction as 1/8, in football speak a fraction is a small proportion.
It seems like Warbo left client confidentiality in his oak panelled office suit in the City of London. Barton didn’t arrive as Ibrox as a free agent for less than £30,000 a week even though he required to bring in his own coffee machine into Murray Park.
Former Spurs star Krankcar wasn’t here for the rain and golf with Senderos also arriving to EPL terms.
Without knowing their exact terms I suspect that Brown, Tom Rogic and Nir Bitton were on a lower basic than Barton, Kranjcar and Josh Windass although the hoops trio did pick up very regular win bonuses.
Going into the 2016/17 season there was no sign of Warburton trying to impose some reality to the predictions of the bears and their media cheerleaders. On Radio Clyde Derek Johnstone and Hugh Keevins both predicted an Ibrox title party- unfortunately it arrived at the end of April when Mikael Lustig popped in number five in front of a joyful Free Broomloan Party Zone.
On February 10 Warbo was emailed from Ibrox that he had resigned, a month later he was at Nottingham Forest for a disastrous 37 match reign during which he signed Jason Cummings on a four year contract.
These days he drifts around media appointments with his management days done and dusted. In Scotland he will be remembered as the first manager in over a century to lose the Scottish Cup to Hibs.
After three concurrent suspensions from Ibrox a deal was cut with Barton but his return to England was cut short when he was found guilty of betting on football matches and suspended for a year.
Currently managing Bristol Rovers he finished last season in 17th position in League One, four behind Scott Brown’s Fleetwood Town.
