Pedro set to select his No 3 in the know
PEDRO CAIXINHA will conclude the process of identifying his ideal No 3 in the next few days, with the hope of lacing his Rangers backroom staff with invaluable local knowledge in the build-up to Motherwell’s visit on Saturday.
Last week, the Portuguese manager sat down with a quartet of hopefuls who would bring a familiarity and know-how of Rangers and the Scottish football landscape to his coaching set-up.
Barry Ferguson, John Brown, Peter Lovenkrands and Alex Rae were interviewed. It is understood that Jonatan Johansson will also speak with Caixinha about the position on his return from World Cup qualifying duty with the Finnish national team.
Caixinha dispensed with the services of goalkeeping coach Jim Stewart after ten years of service and replaced him with trusted sidekick Jose Belman in the major shake-up of his first week in the manager’s hotseat.
However, he does want representation with a Scottish flavour on his side and while two of the candidates are from Denmark and Finland, they have considered Glasgow to be their adopted city for some time since successful spells playing for Rangers.
The new name in the frame, Johansson, 41, spent three seasons at Ibrox between 1997 and 2000 under Walter Smith then Dick Advocaat — including an 18-goal campaign in the Dutchman’s first year — before signing for Charlton.
He returned to Scotland later in his playing career for spells with Hibernian and St Johnstone and enjoyed three years as Under-20 coach at Motherwell.
Lovenkrands has remained close to Rangers since leaving for Schalke in 2006, living in Glasgow since his retirement and occasionally working for the club’s in-house media.
Johansson has also taken on co-commentary duties in the Ibrox gantry for Rangers TV but both are now contenders for an active role in a new era with Caixinha.
The new boss has already assembled trusted staff around him, with assistant Helder Baptista and fitness coach Pedro Malta in addition to goalkeeping coach Belman.
The final piece to be added is a coach with Rangers connections and the Scottish trio to be spoken to about the position are positively over-qualified in that department.
Ex-Clyde manager and former Rangers captain Ferguson was first to be interviewed, before Brown, who is currently employed in an ambassadorial role at the club.
Brown was instrumental in campaigning to oust previous boardroom regimes before Dave King and his camp wrested back control of Rangers. That may have cost Brown, manager at Dundee in 2013 and 2014, the opportunity to pursue a coaching career elsewhere in Scotland but now he has a dream chance to return to the dugout with his first football love.
Another former Dens Park gaffer, Alex Rae was sacked by St Mirren in September. He spoke glowingly of the impression made on him by Caixinha during his interview. ‘Having spent time in his company, he looked as if he was really up for it,’ said Rae.
‘He’s obviously left a job in Qatar with substantial money to come to Rangers. He sees it as an unbelievable opportunity. He’s going to embrace this and go full guns to try to claw back the gap on Celtic.’
Rangers are eight points behind second-placed Aberdeen. Caixinha, a 4-0 winner over Hamilton on his debut, has Motherwell at home then Kilmarnock away before a pivotal trip to Pittodrie on Sunday, April 9.