Soccer

Caixinha can lead Rangers back to top in Scotland - says Ibrox chief

Rangers' Clint Hill (right) celebrates his late equaliser against runaway Scottish Premiership leaders Celtic at Celtic Park on Sunday.
Rangers' Clint Hill (right) celebrates his late equaliser against runaway Scottish Premiership leaders Celtic at Celtic Park on Sunday. Rangers' Clint Hill (right) celebrates his late equaliser against runaway Scottish Premiership leaders Celtic at Celtic Park on Sunday.

New Rangers boss Pedro Caixinha has the strength of character to lead the Light Blues back to the top, according to managing director Stewart Robertson.

The 46-year-old Portuguese coach has been unveiled as the 16th man to occupy the manager's office at Ibrox.

But he remains an unknown prospect for many of the supporters he is now charged with serving.

However, Robertson says the club are convinced they have landed the right man.

He said: "We've done a lot of work on Pedro's background, put in a lot of research. He interviewed very well, while we have taken in a lot of references on Pedro, which all came out very positively.

"So to me it's not the nationality of the man, but the character. We wanted a strong character and I believe very firmly that is what we have got in Pedro."

And Caixinha reckons he will have no problem adapting to Scottish football - because he is a "world citizen".

Having enjoyed an unassuming career as a goalkeeper, Caixinha has coached in a number of countries, including his homeland, Greece, Mexico, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

And the former Santos Laguna boss believes those experiences will help him make his mark in the Ladbrokes Premiership.

Speaking as he met the Scottish media for the first time in the Blue Room at Ibrox, he said: "I'm already adapted to (working in Britain). I'm a world citizen. When I arrived in Mexico, I'd never been there

"I knew nothing about Santos Laguna. I didn't even know anything about the Santos Laguna players, never mind the Mexican competition.

"But what I propose from now is to know the club in its' deepest condition, from top to bottom. To know deeply the players because they are the main actors of this game, and to know the competition.

"So I'm here to work. I need to know all the opponents but I can't do that all at one time. For now I will focus on our team while respecting the next opponent, which is going to be Hamilton.

"I've already watched some of their matches. We're preparing everything and we'll keep going like this".