Former Rangers manager Mark Warburton has returned to football in a new and unexpected role, taking charge of Sporting Club Jacksonville as head of soccer and sporting director.
Warburton, who guided Rangers back to the Scottish Premiership in 2016, was announced as the key figure behind Jacksonville’s footballing project during a press conference on Thursday.
The Florida-based club is preparing to launch a women’s team in the top-tier USL Super League this August, while the men’s team aims for a 2026 debut in the second-tier USL Championship.
In his role, Warburton will oversee all footballing operations, including coach recruitment and squad development, as Jacksonville builds from the ground up.
Sporting Jax president and CEO Steve Livingstone believes Warburton’s experience at Rangers makes him the ideal choice.
“We’ve said from the start that we want to bring the highest level of professional soccer to Jacksonville,” he said. “I think that’s evidence of it, going out and getting someone of Mark’s caliber to lead the charge.”
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Warburton arrived at Ibrox in the summer of 2015, taking over a club still recovering from its financial collapse. Under his guidance, Rangers won the Scottish Championship title and the Challenge Cup, securing a long-awaited return to the Premiership.
Perhaps his most memorable moment came in April 2016, when his side defeated Celtic on penalties in the Scottish Cup semi-final - a result that sent Rangers to their first final since 2011 and underlined the progress made during his tenure.
Since leaving Ibrox, Warburton has managed Nottingham Forest and Queens Park Rangers, as well as serving as a first-team coach at West Ham under David Moyes. Now, he embarks on a different kind of challenge, tasked with building a club from scratch in a growing football market.
“It's a brand-new franchise," Warburton said on his new role. "It's a blank sheet of paper, which can be daunting, because it's blank, but at the same time, it gives the opportunity to lay some foundations down and work with some really good people in preparing for a significant goal."
