PEDRO’S NEED FOR SPEED GREAT

Caixinha is convinced his side can keep pace with Celtic

IF CELTIC are a highperformance sports car revving their engine with menace, it raises a tricky question for Pedro Caixinha. How do Rangers keep pace? ‘When I was younger I was living in a building and some of my neighbours had a Porsche,’ recalls the Ibrox boss. ‘Of course, I thought one day I would like to drive a Porsche. But I didn’t care that they had one and I didn’t.

‘Now I know which way I am heading and today I can tell you I am having a Porsche and I can drive a Porsche. This is the way you need to go.’

Aspiring to be football’s equivalent of the 911 is one thing. Raising the cash on an SPFL budget is the problem. Not to mention the maintenance costs.

Even so, Rangers took a look at the driveway across the city this summer and saw no option. It was time to spend big.

If Celtic are careering towards ten-in-a-row, the Ibrox side need to move fast.

The problem is obvious. To draw level is hard enough; to overtake them, Caixinha doesn’t need an efficient engine, he needs a Rolls-Royce. And every time Brendan Rodgers and his team secure another £30million by qualifying for the Champions League, the task of keeping up becomes a little more difficult. Though not, the Rangers boss insists, impossible.

‘In Mexico the budgets are more directors, from the technical staff and, of course, from the players.

‘We all work hard to get the club in the right direction. We know that we still need to work harder and harder, and that’s what we are doing. On the pitch, it’s important to have direction.’

The forward momentum established by Caixinha against Motherwell and Dunfermline came to a halt in last weekend’s home defeat to Hibs.

Refusing to dwell on post-match accusations of a lack of respect from Neil Lennon, Caixinha insists on looking forward, repeating an old — and often derided — mantra.

‘If you want one point to finish this: I do believe I have the best players,’ he says. ‘I do believe I have the best squad and I focus on that all the time.’

He remains hopeful of making it better still before the end of the transfer window.

Hearts travel to Ibrox tomorrow with an awkward dilemma over Jamie Walker.

Rangers want the winger, having failed with three previous bids. Left out of the Hearts team following claims his form was affected by the speculation, the expectation is that Caixinha will be back before the transfer window closes. Whether Walker can or will play in these circumstances is a source of intrigue.

‘It is not for me to comment,’ says Caixinha. ‘He is not our player and, as I told you, I am not going to talk about (another team’s) player, except talk about some of their characteristics as an opponent.’

After last Saturday’s defeat to Hibs at Ibrox, the last thing the Rangers manager needs is more capital punishment, this time against a team playing under an interim manager.

‘Hearts play differently,’ Caixinha says. ‘The analysis is different with Jon (Daly) in charge. They played differently against Celtic compared to how they played against Kilmarnock.

‘I expect a team in between — but we expect a good team with good players, who won their last game and who want to continue.’

With Ryan Jack free to play after an appeal against his Hibs red card was upheld, Caixinha expects his team to recover quickly from what was a grim day for them.

‘We had a day off after the match and then we had a session,’ he says. ‘I said nothing about the match when normally we make our analysis and reflect.

‘The answer the players gave me was by working hard. I didn’t need anything else. They did it that day, the day after, the day after that, until today I had to say: “Hey boys, calm down as we need to be fresh”.

‘The answer will come in the game on Saturday. That’s the answer we need to give when something happens that you are not expecting and you lose a game. Let’s move forward.

‘I’m not here to compare ourselves with anyone.’

NEIL LENNoN has accused Pedro Caixinha of disrespect after claiming the Rangers boss gave him the silent treatment following last week’s dramatic 3-2 win for his Hibs side at Ibrox.

Although the former Celtic manager went into Caixinha’s office for the traditional post-match drink between bosses, he insisted the Portuguese made no attempt to talk to him.

Lennon, who laughed off what he described as ‘hysterical nonsense’ surrounding his touchline goal celebrations, said he had been full of praise for the job done by his Rangers counterpart before the game.

But after Caixinha launched a public broadside at ‘the other manager’ after last Saturday’s fiery fixture, the Northern Irishman said his rival had refused to show him basic courtesy in the aftermath.

‘other than kiss his feet, how much more respect does he want me to give him?’ asked Lennon yesterday. ‘That respect should have been afforded to me when we went into his office afterwards.

‘But it clearly wasn’t. Respect is a twoway thing. I went into the office after the game. There was no conversation with myself or my backroom team. That was odd, very odd. I’ve never experienced