PEDRO CAIXINHA is a much calmer man compared to his early days as a fiery young coach but the Rangers players need to know the devil is still inside him.
Everyone you speak to about the Portuguese confirms he has a bark if things go wrong and his reputation to lose his cool at players, officials and, yes, even journalists was hard earned and well deserved.
Not that you would have guessed any of this yesterday at the training ground as Caixinha was charm personified, shaking the grubby hands of each of the assorted rabble of journalists, even showing some pity in that there were no cups of tea available for us.
But he has a temper and you get the impression that unless a player believes in what his manager tells him then it will be over for him at Ibrox. However, before Caixinha looked forward, he recalled his days with Santos when he was far quicker to temper.
"When I was a student I did a sport science degree and had to write a dissertation on the psychological side of sports,” he said. “I always loved that side of things because I do believe if you change people’s way of thinking you change a lot. If you change their hearts then you don’t change that much.
“The people who are the best at what they do is the guy who identifies the things he needs to improve. That’s the one question and I told it to the players. I said that they will get everything from me. But I said ‘if you try and so something the opposite way from what I want, you will see the devil in front of you.
“They will see the devil in the human body. Their response? There was no response at all. Were they scared? No, not at all. If they are scared they cannot perform at all."
Caixinha has changed but not completely. He might not be the devil but he's sure no saint, which you need if you hope to survive in football management. What he will be over the next weeks and months is himself.
He said: “Let me tell you something: when I was in Mexico the president of the club was a fantastic guy. One day he came to me in my office. He drew on the board a big pie, like a pizza, and he drew a lot of slices.
“He said ‘regarding training you are nine out of ten. Preparing the team you are nine out of ten. Regarding relations with the players you are an eight, and so on, ‘but sometimes you need to control your anger, you need to control your character.’
“And we realised from that moment it was important for me to know that and to work on it. So I started working with a coach. He was watching the picture from outside, not a psychologist but a coach who tells you how to manage those situations, how to manage with the players, how to manage with the press, how to manage with yourself.
"It needs to start with me. If I want other guys to behave in a way in some situation they need to do. But it’s about identity. My genes are my genes. My character is my character. If I’m not going to be myself it’s not me, so I will be finished. Kaput.”
He has managed and coached at a decent if not top level, and while there are people lining up to kick Scottish football and, indeed Rangers, this job is nothing like he has ever experience before.
Life in Qatar, his last port of call, would have been easy for Caixinha. Nobody cares about the football over there, the 2022 World Cup is all about ego and PR, while there are quite a few people over there for whom Rangers means everything.
He was going to be let go by Al-Garafa at the end of the season, which is no great boast, and perhaps a couple of months ago he would have happy to stay in that region where there is plenty of sun and not so much tax. Instead, he is in Glasgow.
"Passion like that for football is what I love," he said. "People evaluating your work, people getting passionate about your work. "People feeling passion supporting you, that's what I love.
"If you want to reach the top you cannot spend too much time in Qatar. It's a fantastic life for sure. But the competitive side, the highest level in football, you don't get it.
"I love that sort of moment. I work for those sort of moments. I need to feel like I am the happiest guy in the world. As we used to say, 'you do the things you love. The things you are passionate about.
"And then at the end of the month you get paid."
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