Earlier today, Scottish Premiership giants, Rangers, fired Pedro Caixinha from his managerial position as the club finds itself in the hunt for a manager for the second time this year. The Gers had brought Caixinha as a successor to Mark Warburton in March during what was a timorous time for them and sadly, the Portuguese has been forced to leave the club because he couldn’t chisel out anything substantial to navigate them out of the turbulence.
His very appointment was looked with suspicious eyes as the club needed someone who knew Scottish football inside out, which obviously he didn’t have on offer. Rangers didn’t start very well under Caixinha, as in his first indulgence with the club in Europe, the Glasgow based club were knocked out of Europa League by Luxembourg minnows Progres Niederkorn and it goes without saying that it was nothing short of a humiliation. His man-managing skills were not commendable and he did lack the thirst to succeed.
The Old Firm derby still sends shivers down the spine of the football faithful and the rivalry between Celtic and Rangers unarguably offers a lot of animosities.
Under the stewardship of Caixinha, which lasted for 229 days, the Light Blues entertained the Celts thrice and in what is a highly regarded and prestigious game for both the clubs, Rangers were beaten in all of the three derbies, including a 5-1 humiliation in the league in Celtic’s biggest-ever win at the Ibrox Stadium.
The pressure did take a toll on him week in and week out and the scenario completely turned against him after the Teddy Bears were knocked out of the League Cup by Motherwell last weekend as the Steelmen secured a 2-0 win in the semi-final and it was followed by Rangers’ 1-1 draw with Kilmarnock yesterday. The summer transfer window saw Caixinha filling his arsenal handsomely but the outputs that were desired never materialized.
At this stroke of the hour, Rangers are placed at the 4th spot in the Scottish Premiership table with 18 points to their name after 10 games and are 5 points behind Brendan Rodgers’ troops.
The former Al-Gharafa manager did fail to close the gap and further, tensions had started to arise between the players and Caixinha. After the bust-up with Kenny Miller last month, skipper Lee Wallace was being told to stay away from the side during the clash against Kilmarnock.
Apart from Miller and Wallace, Niko Kranjcar was also not allowed to attend the game yesterday, although all three players are well-regarded ones amongst the fans. The exit of Caixinha doesn’t really come as a surprise, for his spell never really get going in a requisite manner. The road ahead looks hazy for Rangers and only time will tell whether they can they manage to go toe-to-toe against Celtic in the league or not.
