Wednesday 16 September 2015 06:26, UK
Ronald de Boer has backed Mark Warburton to keep succeeding at Rangers after being impressed by his ideas for the NextGen Series three years ago.
The Ajax side De Boer helped coach demolished Liverpool 6-0 in the last four of the inaugural competition in 2012 and during his trip to Merseyside, the former Netherlands international met up with Warburton.
The Dutch club's kids went on to lose the final on penalties to Inter Milan in London and the tournament only ran for one more season due to the creation of the UEFA Youth League.
But Warburton - one of the masterminds behind the ground-breaking NextGen event - left a lasting impression on De Boer.
Rangers have won all 10 games so far under their new manager, scoring 38 goals in the process with none of them coming from headers and only five goals being conceded.
De Boer said: "I met all the guys who were involved in the NextGen Series including Mark and I spoke with him. We exchanged our ideas on the tournament.
"We spoke to each other in Liverpool and he was one of two people I met on that occasion. We had a little bit of a debate about the next steps.
"I found him a very impressive man to speak to. He was very humble, very nice and had a real passion for football.
"We were right behind NextGen at Ajax and we were standing behind them. We were the first people to try to help them out and try to make it a success.
"I have not seen Rangers myself yet this season but I am always looking to see how they are doing and they have won every game so far under Mark.
"They have started really well and are scoring a lot of goals so hopefully this time they can finish the job off and work their way back to the top league. I'm confident they can."
