Mark Warburton was wrong to say he’d left Rangers as a success, says John Brown

FORMER Rangers defender John Brown has rubbished Mark Warburton’s claims he left the club a success.

The former Ibrox boss reckons he should be applauded for leading the Light Blues back to the Ladbrokes Premiership.

However, in an interview last week, Warburton also suggested the Gers support were wrong to expect their team could challenge Brendan Rodgers’ rampant Celtic this term.

Warburton is now in charge at Nottingham Forest but Brown believes he is wide of the mark if he thinks the Ibrox faithful will remember this season’s dismal campaign with fondness.

Gers were sitting in third place when Warburton parted company with the club on February 11, a massive 27 points adrift of Rodgers’ runaway leaders.

The gap now stands at 35 points after Celtic wrapped up their sixth-straight title on Sunday.

Former Light Blues defender Brown said: “He’s no longer the manager – I don’t know how he looks at success.

“(The gulf between Rangers and Celtic should not be) 30-plus points and that’s where the previous manager was wrong.

“We know we’re not going to be up there for maybe a year or two until we get a squad.

“But we shouldn’t be that distance behind. The number of points Rangers have lost to other teams in the league has been alarming.

“So I think Mark called that wrong.”

Warburton – who denies claims by Rangers that he, assistant boss Davie Weir and chief scout Frank McParland had resigned their positions – helped end the club’s five-year lower league nightmare when he guided the Glasgow giants to promotion last term.

But this season’s campaign has been a nightmare, with most of the Englishman’s 11 summer signings proving to be expensive flops.

His marquee capture Joey Barton had to be paid off following a training ground bust-up with his boss, while the additions of Niko Kranjcar and Philippe Senderos were also costly mistakes.

But Warburton insists he made a positive impact north of the border.

He told the Telegraph: “We came in and promotion (from the Scottish Championship) was non-negotiable, we won it early by 11 points. We lost in the Scottish Cup Final, beating Celtic in the semi-final, and left with the club second in the Premiership table.

“I can’t help but think that must go down as successful – not in an arrogant way, far from it, but I defy anyone to say that’s not been a good period.

“Some of the Rangers fans are magnificent but the expectation is hard because it’s very difficult for them to accept their club not being at the top of Scottish football and fighting European campaigns. But it was a fantastic experience and it can’t be taken away from me.”