STEPHEN McGOWAN: RANGERS MANAGER IS STILL A DEAD MAN WALKING
No way back for Ibrox boss
THE only thing missing from Pedro Caixinha’s Rangers blazer last night was a target on the back. The Ibrox manager is under fire from all sides. From supporters tired of losing to Celtic. From journalists and pundits who felt he was an underwhelming appointment from the start. And Kenny Miller, the banished striker camped on the training ground roof with a scope and a loaded rifle.
You’d have paid good money for Miller’s thoughts as he sat in his front room watching the goals fly in against a hapless Hamilton defence.
But it needs more than a rousing comeback in Lanarkshire to prove Caixinha can command the respect to be the manager of Rangers.
Right now he looks a dead man walking. It’s a supporter’s prerogative to disagree and plenty will.
The Ibrox boss retains loyal support amongst the rank and file who regard support for their club as a duty rather than a pastime. If players — directly or through friends — are leaking dressing room secrets to journalists it’s a form of unforgivable sabotage. Worse, treachery.
Ibrox has become the setting for a Crimewatch re-enactment.
Caixinha is playing the role of Paul Le Guen. Miller is the Barry Ferguson of the piece.
And in the court of public opinion, the striker is the loser.
But if other native players feel the same, Caixinha (pictured) has a problem.
Respect and authority are integral to a manager’s tenure.
When they leave the building the manager usually follows shortly after, a black bin bag tucked under his arm.
Too often this Rangers side has been found wanting. The humiliating Europa League exit to Luxembourg minnows Progres Niederkorn. A first home defeat to Aberdeen in 26 years.
Three reverses to Celtic, including the heaviest home loss in living memory.
And an inability to overcome Partick Thistle over 90 minutes. Twice. Rangers have to beat better teams than Hamilton. And they have to do it consistently.
If they don’t then people will continue to ask what it was on Caixinha’s CV which persuaded Rangers to appoint him. Comparisons between Le Guen’s short-lived reign and current events are inevitable, but miss one key point.
The Frenchman was an established name with a string of impressive French credits to his name.
By comparison, Caixinha had the CV of a jobbing extra. Rangers made their move when he was plying his trade at a middling club in Qatar after bouncing around ten jobs in 12 years.
And if he continues to flounder, questions should be asked of the men who appointed him.
Addressing more damaging leaks at the club, Caixinha spent Monday repeating the same five words.
And ‘what happens in Las Vegas’ serves as a decent metaphor for the way Rangers pick their managers. The main players at the boardroom table take a turn of rolling the dice. The winner places the chips on a high-risk bet. Twelve months later, the gamblers’ regret kicks in. And the whole process starts all over again.
Insanity, according to Albert Einstein, is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Picking the wrong boss once. Then going straight out and making the same mistake all over again. When Vitor Pereira turned the job down in 2015, Rangers directors clocked how popular Mark Warburton was on a supporters’ messageboard.
The club needed a popular choice to shift season tickets, no question.
But appointing a coach by vox pop is an iffy way to run a football club.
After one failed gamble, what the Ibrox board needed was a safe pair of hands.
A non-executive chairman, Dave King is quick to adopt an executive profile when there’s good news to tell. As major shareholder, he was duty-bound to return from South Africa to head up the search for a new coach rather than leave the job to a threeman panel led by Douglas Park’s son.
A manager is the most important appointment at a professional club.
Pick the right man and — as Brendan Rodgers proves at Celtic — success tends to follow. It’s a notoriously imperfect science. Most directors blunder at some point.
The problem for the board of Rangers is clear. Getting it wrong once was human. Twice leaves them no more room for error.