Importance of what Pedro Caixinha is doing today, and why Rangers’ crucial period starts tomorrow

 

Once again, Pedro Caixinha didn’t wake up in Glasgow this morning. Graeme Murty remains Rangers manager and the parameters of ‘imminent’ have been stretched by the Scottish media since the beginning of last week.

Rangers have been without a permanent manager since Mark Warburton left the club in early February. Murty has been in temporary charge and saw his side beat Hamilton 6-0 in the Scottish Premiership on Saturday with Joe Garner getting a hat-trick, Martyn Waghorn converting a penalty and Jon Toral and Clint Hill also adding goals.

Al-Gharafa’s statement just under a week was largely dismissed, but it’s worth noting once again what the Qatari club said: ‘Pedro Caixinha denied the existence of negotiations with him to take over the responsibility of training the team Glasgow Rangers, stressing that he has a contract with Al-Gharafa and there’s no truth at all to it.’

Whilst there may have been an extent of fingers-in-the-ears denial to it, what shouldn’t have been assumed was that Al-Gharafa would bow in the face of Rangers pressure. This is a club that simply wasn’t going to capitulate, if only for pride reasons.

A few days ago Sport Witness pointed out that Al-Gharafa start a ten day break on Thursday March 9th, an opportune time for change. Indeed, from the Qatari club’s perspective it was always going to seem strange to allow Caixinha to take over Rangers before that. The Ibrox hot-seat would have to wait.

Another very important facet is what Caixinha is doing today. The Portuguese coach takes an assembled side, not full strength with some already absent from the club, to play in a friendly. Described by Al-Gharafa themselves as an ‘annual institution in the Aspire Academy’, the importance of showing respect cannot be underestimated.

Both Aspire and Al-Gharafa are overseen by Qatar’s ruling Al-Thani family, and making sure the traditional (ok, a few years, but traditions have to start somewhere) event runs smoothly is a far greater concern than how much Rangers will offer in compensation for Caixinha.

Once the event is over and the break begins, it is then that Rangers can start their real pursuit to get Caixinha at Ibrox. The Portuguese coach may have agreed to take over from Murty and lead the Scottish Premiership club, but surely he will have known Al-Gharafa would make sure any exit didn’t inconvenience them too much.

A little bit of local understanding can go a long way.