Rangers chairman Dave King calls Mark Warburton's behaviour 'strange'

Rangers chairman Dave King has shed further light on the breakdown in relations with Mark Warburton as he described the outgoing manager's response to boardroom scrutiny as strange''.

King reiterated the club's claims that Warburton and his management team had asked to be released from their contracts this week, although the former Brentford boss has denied resigning.

There was no sign of Warburton at the club's training ground on Saturday morning after he was told he was serving his notice period along with assistant David Weir and the club's head of recruitment, Frank McParland. Managing director Stewart Robertson was present to speak to the squad before training.

Graeme Murty was placed in charge of the team for Sunday's William Hill Scottish Cup fifth-round tie against Morton and Alex McLeish has emerged as an early front-runner to replace Warburton, possibly for an interim period.

Warburton stated in a press conference on Friday that he had no working relationship with King and the South Africa-based businessman's statement further underlined the tensions between the pair.

In particular, King was severely irked by Warburton's reaction to a mid-season briefing last month when the board quizzed their manager on the recruitment.

He revealed Warburton had appealed to the board to be allowed to make additional signings last summer instead of the initial plan to make five or six'' as part ofprudent phased investment''.

King, who claimed he and his fellow directors had invested £18million of the £30million he promised, said the additional investment was expected to ensure Rangers finished a strong second'' but they sit third, 27 points behind Ladbrokes Premiership leaders Celtic.

Of Warburton's nine summer signings, only Clint Hill and striker Joe Garner have been regular starters and the latter has only scored three goals.

That formed the backdrop to the recruitment review and King was unhappy to see elements of the talks appear in the media, stating what is said in board meetings stays in board meetings''.

King said: This was a routine request and was timely given the concerns that everyone at the club has with regard to the high level of wages we were paying relative to the performance on the pitch. In particular, a large portion of our wage bill was not even seeing regular playing time.

Under normal circumstances such a review would remain confidential. However, in this instance, your board's routine questioning of management was leaked to the media and conveyed as being a negative reflection of the board's attitude to the manager and the recruitment department. It was confirmed to me that the leak did not come from a board member.

Irrespective of who leaked confidential information, it is clear from subsequent media comments that the manager did not respond well to the board reviewing his recruitment activity.

This is a strange position to adopt and, in my personal experience, is not a position that a more experienced manager would adopt. No manager in the world can reasonably expect to be beyond scrutiny.''

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