GOING FOR 39
Gers have backed their boss to the hilt.. now Pedro and King should do their talking on the park and try to haul back massive points difference
DAVE KING and the Rangers board have allowed actions to speak louder than words with their backing of Pedro Caixinha this summer.
Now it’s time for the Portuguese to take a lead from his paymasters and let his new-look team make the boldest statements from Ibrox in the new season with their performances on the pitch.
When I arrived at Celtic in the summer of 2000, shortly after Martin O’Neill, Rangers had just won the league and Scottish Cup double and finished 21 points ahead of my new club at the top of the table.
Did I think we could win the league straight away? Hand on heart, I did not.
However, I certainly believed we could bridge the gap, put ourselves in a position to challenge and, if I remember, it was as aggressive a statement as anyone in the Parkhead dressing room was willing to make at that time.
Slowly but surely, we began to gel as a team and put together a string of wins including, of course, that 6-2 victory over our rivals in the first Old Firm match of the season.
We went on to win the title by 15 points and claim a domestic clean sweep of our own, only the third in the club’s history and the first since Jock Stein’s days. The rest, as they say, is history.
Celtic finished 39 points ahead of the Ibrox outfit last season and if Pedro wins the Premiership this time around it will go down as the biggest turnaround in Scottish football history.
Rangers are a big club and, of course, it should come as no surprise when its players and officials talk it up, particularly after a week in which they’ve found stability off the field with Mike Ashley now gone.
Dave King made some headlines of his own yesterday morning when he said Celtic should be further ahead of Rangers at this stage. Sorry Dave but 39 points seems pretty far ahead to me.
Mind you, there were a few home truths when he noted his team should have finished well above Aberdeen with the resources at their disposal.
Third place was unacceptable and he expected more, as we all did, given the pre-season hype.
Pedro inherited a shambles when he took over from Mark Warburton in March but his comments about taking control of the best squad in the country, backed by the best board, were utterly over the top.
He also had too much to say about Derek McInnes and his prophecy about finishing a strong second, above Aberdeen and behind Celtic, proved wide of the mark.
In fairness, Pedro only followed the lead of Warburton, whose outlandish comments included that infamous “nothing between the teams” line in the aftermath of his side’s 5-1 thumping at Celtic Park.
It’s time for Pedro to learn lessons in humility and if he is to give his club the best chance of succeeding in the new campaign he must temper the tone of his comments, as well as those from within his dressing room and the club’s marketing department.
Really, all this “Going for 55” at this time last season was a load of nonsense – pie in the sky slogans that did more harm than good to a club that was still slowly rebuilding its credentials after those seasons of financial turmoil.
Rangers should not make the same mistake twice. They should be licking their wounds and speaking realistically about the challenges facing them as they bid to play catch-up against a Celtic side who are stronger in so many areas and remain the benchmark.
Pedro has earned the right to self-confidence for the months ahead – but behind closed doors – after being backed by
The mouth-music from Caixinha and his players should be one of cautious optimism
his board for a raft of summer signings, all of which appear to be his first choices.
Publicly, the mouth music from him and his players should be one of cautious optimism. Let’s face it, Bruno Alves apart, his close-season captures are hardly household names.
That’s not to say they won’t hit the ground running. The manager has had a couple of months to adapt to his new environment, clearly believes in his new boys and King and the rest of the Rangers board deserve credit for backing their man with hard cash.
But it’s a case of “wait and see” – and not least because to date Pedro’s recruitment drive, Ryan Jack apart, has been for Latin players with no experience of the Scottish game.
Rangers fans are right to be excited and will at least be consoled by the fact the forthcoming season cannot possibly be worse than the last when they were desperately poor for the size of budget committed.
Of course, there was necessity in the need for Pedro to do his transfer business early in the summer, not least because he has had to overhaul an inadequate squad amid the looming deadline of his club’s Europa League qualifiers which begin next week.
Rangers have not stood still but I’m slightly concerned at Celtic’s failure so far to move forward in the transfer market.
Patrick Roberts has left and Jonny Hayes has been brought in but that deal’s hardly earth shattering.
Are Celtic targets not available at this stage, or has there been a failure to conclude deals for the new faces Brendan Rodgers requires?
There’s less of an urgency to Celtic’s transfer dealings but, nevertheless, pre-season training is already under way.
The squad leave on Monday for Austria and the Champions League qualifiers are only a couple of weeks away.
It makes sense for Celtic to bring in players now so they are settled and assimilated into the squad before these vital qualifying ties where a poor 20-minute spell can make or break a campaign.
Celtic definitely need strengthened in the centre of defence, while my views on the goalkeeping position are well established.
Brendan must strengthen from a position of authority because the qualifiers are not a breeze and if they lose over two legs to a side such as Linfield it would be the biggest shock of all time.
Celtic have achieved so much but they cannot rest on their laurels and supporters would like to see them move to another level.
That will be difficult in the domestic game after last season, admittedly but there is scope for improvement in the Champions League.
My former Blackburn gaffer Ray Harford infamously declared, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” when he took over from Kenny Dalglish in the summer after we’d won the title. It was a huge mistake and we didn’t kick on.
By not strengthening Celtic risk standing still, rather than keeping the huge momentum going that they built superbly last season.
After signing that new deal at the end of the season Brendan holds all the cards. It may prove costly not to use them when his hand is so strong.