Idealist intends to stick around and see his vision come to fruition
IN THE dizzying maelstrom of the now, Pedro Caixinha is holding tightly to a vision of a future underpinned by the kind of stability and order that has been absent at Rangers for far too long. It will not be realised without further upheaval at Auchenhowie, though, and is rooted in one particular personal relationship the Portuguese coach really cannot allow to fracture.
Since starting work at the beginning of August, director of football Mark Allen has maintained a public profile best described as non-existent.
The former Manchester City academy chief is just about to hit the button, however, on his plan to reconstruct the Glasgow club’s sporting infrastructure and re-establish key areas such as the scouting department that was shamefully hollowed out under previous regimes.
New staff, new offices, new training methodologies and new technology are already in the pipeline and, despite Caixinha’s position, he fully intends to be around to reap the benefits.
Whatever may be going on with the banished Kenny Miller and the dressing room as a whole these days, the Rangers manager has given his input to the blueprint and insists he and Allen are on the same page in terms of what needs to happen next.
‘We share, more or less, the same vision,’ he said. ‘We are working together as a team.
‘He is about to bring his own team now to work with us, everything from the scouts to what we need in Human Resources, so I think we be able to have the right relations in terms of speaking about football from top to bottom, right through the youth system as well.
‘We will be close all the time. Club philosophy, player profiles, all those things need to start being established from now.
‘We are also changing a lot of things in the facilities (at Auchenhowie), starting with the offices, some more tools for training sessions, a new video system to analyse everything, a new cryo-spa for recovery, some new bikes for recovery as well.
‘When you buy a product, you know it is going to have a certain lifetime. The facilities have been here for 16 years, so you need to follow things and try to reorganise with new tools and accessories because football is different from 16 years ago.’
For Caixinha, the development of a scouting network and a mine of player information is particularly important. He signed 11 players over the summer based almost exclusively on the personal knowledge of the coaching staff and desires a more rigorous process from now on.
‘If you have a database, things are going to be much easier,’ he said. ‘For example, from the guys we had in Mexico, I would receive reports on ten players for one specific position.
‘I would select a shortlist. After that, we would have an interview process on a one-to-one basis to select the player. That is what we are trying to organise here.’
The most expensive signing of the summer was Carlos Pena, a £2.6million capture from Leon.
In the wake of an underwhelming start to the midfielder’s career in Scotland, Caixinha has defended his conditioning — stating he is always in the top three in terms of training data — and repeated his view that the qualities which won him 19 Mexican caps will emerge in time.
‘Carlos has much more to give. Believe me,’ said Caixinha. ‘He is at 60 per cent of his capabilities.
‘We are working and it is a question of time. When he has time and space, he performs and he just needs to adapt to when he is not having time and space.
‘That is nothing to do with fitness. You have to take quick decisions.
‘We are talking about Carlos, but I think we have two of the best midfielders in Scotland in (Ryan) Jack and (Graham) Dorrans.
‘However, the majority of the time, they receive the ball in safe positions. They are facing our goal and the passes they need to perform need to be forward even when they are at the back.
‘They are Scottish. Nobody discusses (their) fitness levels. Or nothing.
‘Being proactive with the first pass forward and looking for the spaces in front is another type of work we are doing with our midfielders and they are Scottish.’
Indeed, Caixinha and his staff have drawn up individual drills for a number of players, with Alfredo Morelos being guided towards showing better decisionmaking inside the area despite eight goals to his name so far.
‘Sometimes, Morelos needs to retain the ball more often, knowing when to retain it and when to pass it,’ said Caixinha.
Caixinha was due to take his players to Canada this week for a friendly with Benfica before its late cancellation. Their next match will now be a tricky league trip to St Johnstone followed by a Betfred Cup semi-final against Motherwell at Hampden.
The Rangers manager is aware of how ending the club’s long wait for major silverware would make his situation easier and he sees claiming a trophy in the shortterm as something meaningful in the club’s overall rebuild.
‘It will be important to have it sooner rather than later,’ he said. ‘Even if you are in the process, growing, and you know the direction you are taking, players and coaches live for trophies — especially in a club like this.’