Bring Rangers back to life after a ritual slaughter? Over to you bold Pedro...
PEDRO CAIXINHA did a bit of bullfighting once. Doesn’t get mentioned much. A bit like that job Mark Warburton used to have in the bank. And rather like the previous manager’s old life doing a spot of currency exchange, all the colour of the bullring is likely to be of precious little help to the Portuguese when he engages today with a different arena possessing its own age-old traditions and a very particular sense of bloodlust.
Caixinha’s old gig involved pulling on the pink tights and turning a splendid creature, the embodiment of dominance and intimidation, into a shadow of its former self, disorientated, laboured, drained of fight.
His new job centres around trying to breathe life into another big beast already in that confused, subdued state and might well leave him in a straitjacket.
Celtic Park is a good place for him to begin the induction process as it will provide a stark and brutal insight into just what he has agreed to get himself into as Rangers manager.
The team he has inherited is already on its last legs and will be jumped on by Scott Brown and co with the same ordered force used by Caixinha and his fellow
forcados in the ring. Many of the interview clips pored over as we have all tried to get a handle on the character of Caixinha, rather than just the CV, have come from a recent documentary made in Qatar in which he talks through footage of him facing the bull with his father.
‘I am a brave man, a courageous man,’ he says. ‘I like to look into the eyes of the challenges.’
Good job. He will face the challenge full-on today, all right, and may feel, at times, as though he is staring into the abyss.
Celtic will take Rangers apart. Form and logic dictate there can be no other outcome. We are looking at Death In The Afternoon here.
Graeme Murty talks about pinning up newspaper clippings from Andy Walker and Frank McAvennie as his team talk.
Dream on, Graeme. It’s way too late for that. Clint Hill was stating last week how he doesn’t pay any attention to anything from outside.
Josh Windass felt it was a good idea to put pictures of the 5-1 walloping at Parkhead on his Instagram page as some kind of fond recollection of happier days.
Too many guys in that dressing room don’t get it. Some still seem to think that just getting into Europe will do fine. The mentality has existed too long to change now.
Caixinha, at least, is going to see just how far away from a title challenge Rangers really are. The team needs rebuilt (again!) and that is where dealing with the enigma that is the current Ibrox board will come into play.
The 46-year-old represents a gamble on their behalf. He is unheralded, nomadic and has been dodging away in the Gulf. A rich man’s playground, but, in football terms, Dead Man’s Gulch.
When he is officially unveiled, it is to be hoped someone from the board, from whom we do not hear enough, will explain exactly why he was chosen.
It would be disrespectful to discount some of Caixinha’s past achievements, though. He had success at a good level in Mexico, worked with a good level of player and seems tactically flexible.
Undoubtedly capable of charm, he is also known to be strong-willed, outspoken and unafraid of confrontation, all things a Rangers manager ought to be. Will he be able to control his more temperamental side when the pressure is really on, though?
If you had to put the family silver on it, you would wager he won’t be here in three years’ time, but he is interesting enough to sell season tickets with and must be given a fair chance.
His arrival at this juncture also gives him an opportunity, free from criticism and too much scrutiny, to figure a few things out.
Sure, it is hard to see how Rangers, hamstrung by Mike Ashley and Sports Direct and yet to restore themselves to a position of political strength within the game, overtake Celtic on or off the field.
Celtic have Champions League money, a solid infrastructure and a chief executive in Peter Lawwell who some would have you believe is running the SFA, the Scottish Government and the Brexit negotiations. He is certainly wellconnected in Europe.
Yet, all things must pass. As long as Brendan Rodgers is in charge, the Parkhead club will rule, but he will leave some time and there can be no guarantees after that.
All Rangers can do until then is rebuild their club properly. They wasted 18 months at first-team level with Warburton.
They need to get it right with the new man.
They claim they will recruit a director of football. Why the head coach has been appointed ahead of him remains a little puzzling.
According to reports, Rangers paid compensation for Caixinha when his contract was up in 45 days. They must deliver more money for players in the summer. Yet, they still seem to possess little in terms of a scouting network.
At least in the bullring, Caixinha only had to focus on one snorting hulk of testosterone thundering straight at him. At Ibrox, the issues are more complicated. And they’re coming from several angles.