I’ll put my Pedro on the metal
NIKO KRANJCAR insists he is 100 per cent behind Pedro Caixinha’s Rangers revolution and will bust a gut to play a massive role for the club next season.
The Croat, who has missed most of his first term at Ibrox with a cruciate knee ligament injury, is being heavily tipped by bookies to hook up with Harry Redknapp at Birmingham for the fourth time in his career. But Kranjcar is adamant he has unfinished business at Ibrox.
Redknapp signed Kranjcar, left, when in charge of Portsmouth, Spurs and QPR and has money to spend. But the attacker’s focus is on getting back fit at Ibrox after his season was wrecked by injury.
Kranjcar hasn’t played since shattering his cruciate back in October but has returned to training and set his sights on the Europa League qualifiers
KENNY MillEr can’t wait for a summer rebuild at the end of a season he suspected was doomed after just two games.
Brendan Rodgers has delivered the blueprint and now it’s up to Pedro Caixinha to deliver on the promise after a campaign Miller admits has been far too feeble.
Typically, the former Scotland striker refused to pull any punches as he assessed the toughest campaign he has known in the professional game.
He has no regrets about telling Scott Brown at the start of the season the Hoops would be fighting for second with Aberdeen as the Rangers marketing department bullishly told the world they were “Going for 55”.
Miller acknowledged what most observers knew at the time – he was speaking with his tongue stuck firmly in his cheek, particularly as the impact of Rodgers at Parkhead quickly hit home.
Rangers were toiling from the opening day of the campaign when they drew 1-1 with Hamilton but it was their narrow win over Dundee a week later that set alarm bells ringing for the Ibrox Player of the Year.
Miller said: “We have constantly given ground away and from day one against Hamilton at Ibrox we were playing catch-up.
“I remember speaking to the press after the second game of the season up at Dundee, when we won 2-1, and saying, ‘We needed to win that.’
“We were absolutely cruising in that match. It was 2-0 and could have been any score at half-time. Then we ended up hanging on. Our inconsistencies in performance level were highlighted in that one game.
“It’s not just consistency over the course of a season or
GARY RALSTON
period of fixtures, it was within individual games. We go from high to low. The disparity between the first and second half at Dundee was incredible.
“It has been as frustrating as any season I can remember. We have seen flashes of brilliance throughout the season, some scintillating stuff and then moments of madness.
“The inconsistency has been there for all to see. If we are going to have any sort of success, whether in the league or cups, we will need a higher level of consistency and performance next season.”
Miller doesn’t have to look far for inspiration but unfortunately for Rangers, it’s across the city at six-in-a-row Celtic, who ditched Ronny Deila when that experimental appointment went awry and opted for tried and trusted Rodgers.
His impact has been astonishing. And all with the addition of just three players, quality performers in key positions, with increased fitness levels and a clear tactical plan, delivered on a foundation of good man-management, paying dividends.
It’s a blueprint Miller hopes Rangers can follow in the weeks ahead, although Caixinha’s ambitions for massive improvement must be delivered against a backdrop of a total squad overhaul. In addition, the players who will remain at the club are short of the quality Rodgers inherited at Parkhead 12 months ago. Miller said: “If you can win games early and start to get an understanding, a belief and a confidence from that, there is no limit to how far you can go.
“If you stutter and stumble, as we did at the start of the season, confidence takes a hit. You maybe start questioning methods and that is the start of a quick downfall.
“It sounds a huge task. I know Celtic were champions last year but they weren’t great and we saw that in the Scottish Cup semi-final. I know we only won on penalties but I felt we were closer to them on the day, we were the better football team.
“However, look what a manager and a few big-name signings can do – better quality signings have reinvigorated the good players that were there.
“No doubt there will be people coming and going in the summer but if we can get that right, win matches at the start of next season and breed confidence in what we are trying to achieve, it will set us up for a far better start to the campaign.
“The majority of Celtic’s players are international footballers and the manager has come in and given them belief and understanding of what they are trying to do.
“They were winning games right from the get-go and hit the ground running, obliterating teams by scoring four and five. If you go into the next game after winning 4-0 or 5-0 low on confidence there is something wrong.
“We weren’t scoring that amount of goals. Whether you are good, bad or indifferent, you need to be winning games if you want to win the league.
“Summer becomes crucial. The detail in the work we’ve being doing so far has been very good but it’s above my pay grade as to how many we’re going to bring in. That’s down to the manager but he’ll bring in the quality he hopes will be crucial to us carrying out his instructions.”
His last sentence hints some in Caixinha’s squad may have lacked the wherewithal, or willingness, to take on board the new manager’s philosophy and it is perhaps borne out by his plan to effectively rip it up and start again.
Rangers will play Europa League football on June 29 but in the meantime have three games against Hearts, Aberdeen and St Johnstone to see out a campaign most fans will label under “instantly forgettable”.
Miller added: “European football has been achieved which is a step in the right direction. It’s hard to look at finishing third as an achievement. It’s not where we want to be as a club.”
On those retorts in response to rival Brown, he added: “It was tongue in cheek but there is no way I am ever going to say I am happy to play second or third fiddle to anybody. This is not what we are built on but we need to forget about other teams and sort out our own house first. “We could sit here at the start of every season and both Celtic and Rangers will say we need to win the league. One of us has to be wrong. We have been wrong by a long way this year. It is unacceptable and something we need to address.”