Sunday 18 September 2016 08:33, UK
Mark Warburton refused to answer questions on the Joey Barton fall-out after Rangers' goalless draw with Ross County.
The midfielder was told to stay away from the club until Monday after a bust-up with his boss and team-mate Andy Halliday, ruling him out of Saturday's stalemate which leaves Rangers on the verge of dropping six points and a game in hand behind Celtic just over a month into the season.
But Warburton refused to confirm whether the Gers support had seen the last of the 34-year-old following Tuesday's training-ground argument and decided to walk out of his post-match news conference early as reporters asked one question too many on the subject.
"I'm not going to talk about Joey Barton," Warburton said.
"It's an internal matter that is being dealt with by Rangers Football Club. We won't make any comment on any internal matter."
However, Warburton did insist the controversy with Barton which followed the 5-1 loss to Celtic last weekend had not disrupted his build-up to facing Jim McIntyre's men.
"Not at all," said the Englishman. "It's just another matter that you deal with; it's part of the challenge of day-to-day working life.
"It didn't affect our preparations. We did very well, we trained well and we gave a good performance but didn't get the rewards that I felt we deserved today."
Rangers were looking to get back to winning ways against County but Josh Windass had an early goal ruled out for offside while the former Accrington midfielder then saw an effort cleared off the line.
Clint Hill also had a header cleared off the line in the second half while substitute Michael O'Halloran's header crashed off the bar.
Halliday took over from Barton in midfield while Jason Holt returned after five weeks out injured. Teamed with the impressive Windass in the centre of the park, there was more energy about Rangers but they were still missing the spark that made Warburton's team such a force last term.
Skipper Lee Wallace and Barrie McKay looked short on confidence while Martyn Waghorn - back after picking up a hamstring injury on the opening day - looked short of sharpness.
But the manager, who criticised the lack of positivity coming from the Scottish media earlier this week, said his side deserved more from the game.
"I'm never happy about dropping two points at home but I'm very pleased with the performance. That's our best 90-minute performance of the season," the former City trader said.
"We wanted to go back to basics. I always go back to the money markets. If you lose a bunch of money you don't try to win it back the following day. You build slowly.
"We said come in and move the ball quickly, show an energy and desire. Get bodies forward and create chances. We did that. I'm sure you'll agree we created more than enough chances to win two or three games. We just hit every part of the goalkeeper's body.
"It was one of those days but we've got to be much happier with the quality of performance. Nine times out of 10 that will be enough to win games."
McIntyre hailed his side's display after admitting the Barton controversy was the last thing his team needed.
"I think it made it harder, I really do," he said. "It's bad enough coming off the back of an Old Firm defeat but with what has gone on during the week it would have given them motivation to go and get the result, a comfortable victory.
"At times it was desperate for us, we had to hang in and graft and then you get that slice of luck that you need when you come to the big clubs."
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