Pedro wowed by Ibrox, fans and training facilities...but club structure can’t mask dearth of star quality that lurks beneath
FROM Ibrox to Auchenhowie, the hallmarks of a major club are all around Pedro Caixinha. There is potential once again but it is currently unfulfilled.
Off the park, Rangers are illustrious and enticing. On it, they are underperforming and underachieving.
The weeks since Caixinha was appointed as manager have been enlightening and now the hard work is about to get even harder.
The Portuguese hasn’t been landed with mission impossible but the task ahead is a considerable one.
After inheriting a squad that isn’t fit for purpose, he must now assemble one that can challenge in the Premiership.
“Not so much more difficult,” Caixinha said. “Just that I feel as if there is more work to do.
“When you think from outside, a football man or a football fan, about the name of Rangers, it’s something you think ‘wow – massive’.
“The structure of the club is incredible. It’s incredible the support we have – the facilities and the fans at Ibrox.
“Everything is great, but you need to understand that the main actors in this game are the players.
“When you reach the level of a big team like Rangers, when you make any sort of changes, the knowledge of the footballer you are adding to the game should be like this (snaps fingers).
“That’s the main difference that I was supposed to get here or find here and I didn’t really find it.”
After spending recent weeks assessing his squad, Caixinha will now use the coming days to inform his players who will stay and who will go this summer.
The back-to-back defeats to Celtic were humbling and humiliating for Rangers and the performances at Hampden and Ibrox have focused Light Blue minds.
Significant changes are expected during the close season, but Caixinha’s judgments aren’t snap ones based on two bruising Old Firm encounters.
He said: “You only get to know things deeply when you have worked on the pitch, when you are here and seated in the job.
“But to be honest, yes, to be honest, yes [the job is bigger than I thought when I arrived].
“But I am a guy of challenges. I am on the way to the task so I have no problem with it.
“No [I haven’t learned more about the changes required after the last two games]. My mind is set regarding to the changes.
“The games didn’t change that much, and we still have four more matches to play but the mindset is almost the same.”
WITH just four Premiership outings remaining this term, a campaign that promised much but has delivered little for Rangers will soon come to a close.
It has been a season of few highs and several lows but Caixinha must now build for a brighter future as he gears up for a crucial summer on and off the park.
The challenge that Caixinha has been presented with is a significant one. He is confident it will bring out the best in him.
“Yes [I have experienced this before in my career],” he said. “But this is a different situation because it’s the only club in the world that gets from the Third Division to the Europa League in five years.
“It’s the only one in the world, under these specific conditions.
“But my experience with others clubs – not as massive as this one – saw me arrive at difficult moments and things changed.
“At my last club in Qatar, when we arrived, they were about to be relegated.
“That’s what everyone thought would happen, and this was a massive club in Qatar.
“But we finished in fifth position which shows a lot of work was done.
“We now know this structural work needs time to get surrounded by the right people. And that’s what we’re doing.”
Rangers will return to action