AS always in times of confusion and controversy it is only wise to seek out the council of Lieutenant Frank Drebin.
The hero of the Naked Gun films, portrayed by the peerless Leslie Nielsen, once found himself in a posh restaurant where the baddie of the piece was shuffling a deck of cards while trying not to stare at Priscilla Pressley’s deck.
The conversation when like this.
“Do you gamble, Lieutenant Drebin?”
“Every time I order out”
And this isn’t his only take on risk.
As the great man once mused; “You take a chance getting up in the morning, crossing the street, or sticking your face in a fan.”
Frank was right. There are no sure things in life. Apart from, that is, the fact Scottish football for all its faults has an uncanny capacity of throwing up tales on phenomenally regular
basis for us all to get our teeth stuck into.
Pedro Caixinha’s appointment as Rangers manager is such story.
Make no mistake this is a high stake gamble, even more so than phoning in a Chinese meal when you have a peanut allergy. Rangers have not played safe. Even with all the due diligence in the world, this is a real step into the unknown. It’s brave, it’s bold and we will find out soon enough whether it’s brilliant.
Caixinha has already been judged by many.
A modest enough CV, although he’s hardly the novice some have made him out to be, and the lack of any real knowledge of Scottish football is worth commenting upon, as is what happened
at his last job at Al-Gharafa, a mid-table Qatari club, because they were quite keen to get him out the door.
What must be said is that clubs in that part of the world switch managers all the time it would be wrong to read too much into it. However, it’s hardly a football hotbed. More a tax-free ex-pat lifestyle for those who have had enough of the rat race. It’s not going to prepare him for what lies ahead.
Derek McInnes would have been a safer option but, again, any board takes a risk when they are forced into changing their manager. Stewart Robertson and his fellow directors have made their call and the Portuguese must be given every chance to prove himself.
But the powers-that-be inside Ibrox will know, or at least they ought to be aware, that the supporters will blame them if this all goes wrong. This is a big call.
So what would success be? The man himself spoke of winning European trophies which is, of course, a nonsense but I supposed it doesn’t hurt to be ambitious. The priority is chasing down Celtic who despite Sunday’s draw hold every advantage in the book.
Caixinha might be a miracle worker but even the greatest sorcerers need help. Is he going to get it from Dave King who is facing an extra pay-out of £11m and, so far, has not invested enough?
Success would be cementing second place and winning the odd cup. European football, albeit the Europa League, might well be a few seasons away but that is surely an achievable goal.
However, Celtic have more money, better payers, a free go at the Champions League and several players worth serious money where they to leave. Caixinha, a trained bullfighter, would be talking bullshit where he to suggest this will all be sorted within a couple of years.
It is, of course, a nonsense to say 100 per cent that this is going to be a failure, even if the doubts about this experiment are justifiable. He has to be given time to show what he’s all about. Calling him a dud before he’s even met the players is ever so slightly bonkers.
But, and there was always going to be a but, it does seem to me like an unnecessary risk at this time in Rangers history. This isn’t an easy job. The expectations remain huge, the pressure never eases up and he is up against a rival holding all the aces
Getting in someone with local knowledge is a wise move but he shouldn’t fall for the old ‘he has to be a Rangers man’ shtick. That is fine in principal but best to get in the most worthy candidate regardless of whether he ever played for the club.
Indeed, it will be interesting to see whether Graeme Murty, a fine man who clearly has something about him, applies to join Caixinha’s coaching team.
Celtic fans roll their eyes whenever it is said that Scottish football need a strong Rangers, given how much they are enjoying themselves at the moment. And while our game won’t fall or live depending on whether a challenge comes from Govan-way, the Ladbrokes Premiership, in terms of competition, could do with a challenge coming from someone.
Rangers under new management could give their old pals a run for their money, but to paraphrase Frank Drebin; “They say there is a 50/50 chance of Rangers catching Celtic, though there’s only a 10 percent chance of that.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel