PEDRO NEEDS SIGNS OF LIFE
Caixinha knows that top buys Alves, Pena and Dorrans have to deliver the goods
IT was a moment Graham Dorrans had visualised from the days when a Rangers jersey was the perfect Christmas gift. By putting pen to paper on a three-year contract, he was now a key player for the team he once watched from the Ibrox stands.
Dorrans, though, could never have anticipated the precise circumstances surrounding his arrival. The realisation of a lifelong dream came in what had previously been a nightmare week for all associated with Rangers.
Tuesday evening’s 2-0 defeat against Progres Niederkorn, fourth in the Luxembourg league last season, was the club’s worst-ever result in European football. Crashing out of the Europa League at the very first hurdle — in such a humiliating manner — drove a pin into the bubble of feel-good optimism that had built throughout an active summer in the transfer market.
More significantly, it delivered a deep wound to Pedro Caixinha’s credibility.
The Portuguese coach is now operating in overdraft when it comes to public opinion.
He has no credit in the bank with supporters left understandably furious by the incredible events of midweek.
Caixinha badly needs Dorrans, Bruno Alves and Carlos Pena — three summer signings of real experience — to make an impact right from their expected competitive debuts in the Premiership opener against Motherwell on August 6.
Otherwise, the pressure already resting on his shoulders will continue to intensify.
Dorrans will do all he can to help. Acclaiming Caixinha as the man who helped make his long-desired transfer possible, the 30-year-old remains confident Rangers can trade blows in the upper echelons of the domestic game during the coming season.
‘I want to come in and help the youngsters and I like to think I can bring a bit of experience having played at a high level for the last ten years now,’ said Dorrans, who spent seven years on the books of West Bromwich Albion before joining Norwich City in 2015.
‘I am confident we have a good enough squad to compete. Hopefully, I can come in and help the team, help the young boys develop and help the club get back to where it belongs.
‘The manager has been great, too. I will play where he wants me to play — I am just excited to come in here.
‘I have been chatting to him for the last week or so, and he has been the driving force behind the move. I am looking forward to coming in and working with him.
‘I can’t wait to start; it is something I have always dreamed of since I was a kid — so I am looking forward to getting into training and getting the boots on.
‘Once that day comes to run out at Ibrox it will be great.
‘There are some big names coming in and we’ll get four weeks behind us now training. Hopefully, we’ll gel quickly and be ready for the first game.’
It is Caixinha’s job to make sure that is the case. At least where Dorrans is concerned, it is hardly a case of entering foreign territory.
The expectations and demands inherent at Rangers were ingrained during his years as a fan.
Further familiarity is added by faces in the dressing room.
Captain Lee Wallace and veteran striker Kenny Miller are both team-mates from past Scotland squads and encouraged him to come home.
Dorrans won the last of his 12 caps in a 6-0 win over Gibraltar in 2015. But it is catching the eye of Caixinha and the Ibrox support, rather than national manager Gordon Strachan, which will be his priority in the months ahead.
‘Both Lee Wallace and Kenny Miller have been a big driving force behind pushing to get me in here,’ Dorrans told Rangers TV.
‘I have been speaking to them both regularly on the phone and they have been speaking to the manager as well, they have been great.
‘We have a good squad; we are adding some good quality players so hopefully we can push on.
‘I haven’t thought about Scotland, my mind is set on coming here, doing well, getting into the team and playing some games.
‘If Scotland happens it happens and if it doesn’t it doesn’t but my main focus right now is on Rangers and that is what I am looking forward to.’
Dorrans becomes Caixinha’s ninth summer signing, following Alves, Ryan Jack, Fabio Cardoso, Dalcio, Daniel Candeias, Pena, Eduardo Herrera and Alfredo Morelos through the gates of the Auchenhowie training complex.
A fee of around £1.2million, including add-ons, concluded weeks of negotiations with Norwich and extended the significant recent financial commitment to Caixinha.
The lengthy pursuit underlines his importance.
Operating in England has honed Dorrans’ technical skills into the kind of package previously lacking from the Rangers midfield. He will be a vital component of their bid to cast off the Luxembourg misery by establishing a forceful presence in the Premiership.
Dorrans started pre-season training later than his colleagues, but the four-week wait for league action provides plentiful opportunity to attain sharpness.
‘I have been keeping myself fit over the summer,’ he added. ‘The boys here came back earlier than I did at Norwich and I have been training now for the last ten days.
‘I have done a bit of running and I have had a chat with Craig Flannigan (Rangers head of performance and preparation) and he is confident he can keep me up to speed with the boys. Hopefully, I’ll catch them up.’
TRIO HAVE BEEN CLOSELY TARGETED TO TRY AND LIFT THE IBROX BLUES