Players will show they are with me, says Pedro

PEDRO CAIXINHA admits he will not know for certain if he is in charge of a divided Rangers squad — until he sees them in action against Hamilton tomorrow night. The under-fire Ibrox boss, who says he’s willing to ‘die’ defending his ideas about the game, faces fresh scrutiny following revelations about a heated team meeting in the wake of Saturday’s dispiriting 2-0 home loss to Celtic. The Portuguese coach, who is alleged to have lambasted Scottish players for not doing more to make him, his staff and a swathe of foreign summer signings feel more welcome, insisted the leaking of confidential information was ‘good’ for him. Asked if he thought the squad was united behind him, Caixinha said: ‘Totally — but you will need to ask me that after Friday. ‘Because if you feel that reaction, the reaction we want, we will have our answer on Friday. ‘We were going to see who is in favour of this vision and who is against it. ‘So the reaction, I tell you the boys have shown a very good reaction in training, but the reaction I want is on Friday.’ Caixinha is reported to have attacked home-based players over their failure to

make newcomers more welcome at the club. His outburst in Monday’s postOld Firm analysis session, held at the Auchenhowie training complex, is believed to have left a number of players stunned. During the meeting, Caixinha allegedly lambasted Graham Dorrans for handing Kenny Miller the captain’s armband when the veteran striker replaced Carlos Pena in the second half at Ibrox, claiming the midfielder had shown a lack of respect by not consulting with the coaching staff before making that decision. Asked outright yesterday if he felt there were players not fully behind his course of action, Caixinha admitted: ‘I don’t know. I don’t know. But, when you go with one group of friends to Las Vegas and you know you are going to party and just enjoy the party, nobody is going to know about the party, then one of your friends says to his wife — to your wife and the other wives — what happens, that means the sentence is not valid any more.’ Caixinha also defended the fitness of Pena and denied he had taken him off against Celtic because he was struggling to keep up with the pace. He also rejected reports that he criticised the 27-year-old Mexican following the defeat. ‘I didn’t say that after the game,’ said Caixinha. ‘When I was young, the boys used to call me elephant because I have a great memory. ‘I said that (he was struggling to reach the right fitness levels) about Carlos when we had the team picture at Ibrox, and I said Carlos would need to improve at that moment in time. I never said it after the match. ‘In that specific action, we identified that he needs to improve — he still needs to improve.’