Mark Warburton has been perplexed and bemused by a lot of things he has encountered so far since swapping the relative quiet of Brentford for the madhouse of Scottish football.

And one such peculiarity that he can't quite get his head around is why Aberdeen fans have such fervent resentment towards Rangers, with the Ibrox boss labelling their hatred for his club as “sad”.

Rangers visit Pittodrie tomorrow lunchtime for the first time since October 2011, long before Warburton was in charge of the light blues.

He has been made aware of the special welcome that awaits his men though, and has backed them to stand up to the fervent atmosphere whipped up by the Red Army.

“It is a little bit [bemusing],” Warburton said. "I don’t mean to be naïve but it is.

“I keep hearing about the hatred, the pure hatred, the pure bitterness. It’s football we’re talking about.

“No one has really explained to me where it really came from. Someone said to me that it was because Graeme Souness took over and somebody else said it was the Ian Durrant tackle and all these different things.

“It does seem quite sad that it should be at this state.

“I don’t really understand where the bitterness comes from. It’s a hostile environment with Rangers going to Aberdeen.

“Go out and enjoy the atmosphere, recognise, respect the opponent.

“I think our boys now realise that most places they go to they will get the same warmth of reception.

“I understand we have less tickets – 2000 compared to 3500 – so it will be less noisy from the Rangers end maybe but we’ll still go and enjoy it.

“[The players] are professionals. It would be poor of me to say we’re not ready for that. You can’t turn around and say that they are all experienced because many won’t have experienced it.

“I’d be lying if I said that but at the same time they are all professional footballers and they came to Rangers to play in these games.

“Where would you rather be? Playing in front of 3-4000 in League One or at a packed Pittodrie live on TV?

“There’s no doubt where anyone round the table here would rather be – but you have to recognise it, deal with it and deliver a performance.”

Aberdeen manager Derek McInnes is furious that his men have only had two days to recover from a bruising League Cup quarter final against St Johnstone for the visit of Rangers.

Warburton says though that Tuesday night’s win over Queen of the South at Ibrox also took a lot out of his men, while vowing to be ready for the challenge that awaits.

“I won’t talk about Aberdeen and I’m sure Derek won’t talk about Rangers,” he said. “Our focus is on us. We had a tough game on Tuesday and we’ve had to rest knocks.

“Lee Wallace was more physically battered and bruised and it was a chance to use the squad. It allows the squad to get pitch time too.

“It’s good to use the squad but Lee is fit. Holty [Jason Holt] trained this morning and Josh [Windass] was with the physios as a precaution. They should be fine.

“We’ll train on Saturday and then head north.”

While Warburton’s focus at the moment is on the match against Aberdeen, there was also the small matter of Thursday night’s pairing with Celtic in the League Cup semi-final to address when he met the press.

The Rangers boss has been buoyed by the manner in which his side reached this stage of the competition, and has challenged his players to relish that occasion rather than be daunted by it.

“We’re in the League Cup draw and that’s the important thing,” he said.

“The key thing was to get through Tuesday because Queen of the South are flying high and are deservedly top of their league, so we knew it was going to be a tough test, but we put in a very good performance.

“We wanted to be in the draw, so whoever you get, Aberdeen, Morton or Celtic, it’s a semi-final at Hampden and we’ll fill out the Rangers end, that’s for sure.

“For some of our players it will be their first time playing at Hampden, so go and enjoy it.

“We’ll prepare well for the game, we want to win it and get into the cup final, that’s what we want to do.”

Warburton has also welcomed the return of striker Martyn Waghorn from injury to add competition for starting places in his favoured three-pronged attack.

He announced his return to the starting line-up with a hat-trick on Tuesday evening as he looks to force his way into contention for Pittodrie.

“I’m delighted for Waggy,” said Warburton.

“I know what Martyn can do, likewise I know what Joe Garner can do, I know what Kenny Miller can do and what Joe Dodoo can do as an exciting young talent that I was watching this morning.

“It’s about using the squad. Martyn has been playing out wide right, but whether it’s him, Joe or Kenny down the middle then I know they can all rotate.

“I was delighted for Waggy to come back. He got time on the Saturday and showed his fitness, and he was very good the other night getting his hat-trick.

“As always, he will be a key player this season.”