Ped: I’ve got five skippers
PEDRO CAIXINHA insists he now has five players who are captain material after confirming Lee Wallace will keep the skipper’s armband. The Ibrox boss reckons he could have named any one of Wallace, Kenny Miller, Niko Kranjcar, Graham Dorrans or Bruno Alves as his on-field leader.
There were calls for Portuguese stopper Alves to replace Wallace as captain due to his vast experience at the top level.
Gers fans got their first glimpse of the 35-year-old and Dorrans in Saturday’s
1-1 friendly draw against former European champions Marseille.
Kranjcar scored with a free-kick stunner and Caixinha said: “We will have a group of five captains. Lee will wear the armband but the important thing is I chose those five for their character.
“They have the maturity, leadership and experience to spread to the others what they want and what they need.
“I want those players to not only be players but extensions of myself and assistant coaches at the same time on the pitch. They know the standards and what I want is for us to always be focused on those.”
And Scotland midfielder Dorrans is convinced Rangers now have the characters needed to close the gap on Celtic and win silverware this season.
The £1.5million signing from Norwich and boyhood fan knows they must be able to cope with the pressure.
Dorrans, 30, insists the arrival of Euro 2016 winner Alves is a huge boost but hopes his own experience helps Gers to bounce back from last season’s disappointment – and their Euro embarrassment against Progres Niederkorn.
He said: “A club this size is expected to win every game so you need characters and belief you can do that.
“I believe we have that in the dressing room. This football club needs to be winning things.
“Last season was disappointing with the number of points behind Celtic. Hopefully we can win a cup and see what happens in the league.
“We have good international players. Hopefully, Bruno coming in will give us a big boost as well.
“Myself, Bruno and Kenny – the experienced ones – will be in there to help people along.”
Dorrans admits it’s a dream to finally pull on the light blue jersey after a brief spell in the Gers youth ranks before joining Livingston.
He added: “It’s no secret I’ve been a fan of the club my whole life. Hopefully I can help get Rangers back to where the club wants to be.”