Pedro Caixinha has already been told he has got the Rangers job
PEDRO Caixinha has already been told he has been successful in his application to become the new head coach of Rangers and will be unveiled officially within the next 48 hours.
Sunday Herald Sport understands the 46-year-old Portuguese coach was informed late last week that he had been chosen to replace Mark Warburton following a call with a Rangers delegation led by director Graeme Park and the managing director Stewart Robertson.
It is also believed that Caixinha wants to bring in his own coaching staff which is likely to spell the end of caretaker manager Graeme Murty’s association with the first team.
Caixinha, who almost became Rangers assistant manager before Warburton was appointed, started discussions with the board in Lisbon almost two weeks ago and gave such an impressive presentation that he jumped to the head of the shortlist for the post.
In the course of those talks he emphasised the work he had performed at Mexican side Santos Laguna, where he was coach before accepting the position at Al-Gharafa.
During his two-year spell in Mexico, Caixinha guided Santos to the Concacaf Champions League final and won the Apertura and Clausura titles in 2014 and 2015 respectively.
He saw off competition from the former Ibrox manager Alex McLeish, the erstwhile Birmingham City manager Gary Rowett and one-time Hamilton Academical manager Alex Neil, now of Norwich City.
The one stumbling block to the potential deal was a £600,000 compensation fee that was due to AlGharafa. However, it is understood that the clubs have come to a compromise agreement.
Rangers are still hoping to announce Southampton’s director of scouting Ross Wilson as their new director of football within the same timeframe but he is believed to have asked for 24 hours to think things through.
In what was likely to be Murty’s last match in charge, Rangers progressed to the William Hill Scottish Cup semifinals courtesy of a 6-0 canter against Hamilton Acadmical.
Murty remained tight-lipped on the managerial speculation saying: “If I’m in charge next week I’ll deal with it then. Can I just enjoy this one a little bit first?”