JohnMc

This is yet another strange story among the many, many peculiar happenings around our club in recent years. Who did King give "£20,000" too? Did he give it to the Celtic fan? If he did then some serious questions need to be asked about why he did that. If he gave it to Craig Whyte well the same applies. In case any further evidence was required about the nature of some of 'their' support the 'hacker' is 48 years old, an age where most people have significantly more important things to worry about than the goings on at a football club they don't support. There are times you despair for the country.

I have to agree with this. Pete, I don't recall ever having a problem with anything you've ever written on here, but I was surprised when I read your first post in this thread. Of all the victims Brazil is one of the few who has spoken publicly about it in the past. If he doesn't want to again we should respect that.

He's certainly an interesting signing and brings a lot of experience, something a centre half can't have enough of for me. I'm not sure I'm quite ready to beatify him just yet but he's got a great record and whilst he's in the twilight of his career he's dropping down a level from Serie A so he should still be able to perform at a good level in our league. My only word of caution is the intense season he's had, playing during the Euros last summer then a full season followed by the Confederations Cup means he really could do with a break. Whilst it won't suit us we should give him a month off when that comp is over, let him recharge, we've a long season ahead and it would be better not to lose him to fatigue related injuries during the season. We're pretty certain to lose him to suspensions as it is.

Look there are all sorts of reasons a manager can 'fail' at a club, reasons I've no insight into. He could have had his best players sold from under him, finance issues, dysfunctional boards or just bad luck. I can only see what the record books show and they show an, at best, ordinary series of results. Derek McInnes, often named as the 'obvious' overlooked replacement for Warburton has a similarly ordinary CV, winning promotion with St Johnstone he then steered them to 8th place two seasons in a row before moving to Bristol City and getting them relegated. Since Tommy Wright took over St Johnstone have finished 6th then 4th for three seasons in a row, with one of the smallest playing budgets in the league. Even Thistle manager, Alan Archibald, has a comparable record to McInnes (prior to Aberdeen) with winning Thistle promotion and then a 10th, an 8th, a 9th and a 6th place finish. I didn't hear many suggest either of those two for our manager's position. I get why many say 'give him a chance' and of course we've no option but to do that. He's the manager and he must be allowed to bring in the players he wants. The fact I'm not convinced about his ability and I'm nervous about bringing in players who might struggle to settle in our city and culture not to mention style of football is just messageboard chat. I genuinely hope I'm wrong, I just worry we've employed the Portuguese Bobby Williamson.

It's too early to say. Some of our performances have been truly awful, the spirit has looked low and energy levels too. The players didn't look like they knew what they were meant to be doing. Whether that'll change when he has some of 'his' players in place I guess we'll just have to see. I'd have liked to see Barrie McKay play a greater role under Pedro, he's our most creative player and a far better player than current form. It's unfair to judge the young players he introduced yet, I'd no real problem with him giving them a game. I expected Pedro to make us harder to beat, tighten us up defensively, be less swashbuckling than Warburton, and make the most of the players he inherited whether he intended to keep them or move them on. That's what Murty did. To me, by no means a tactical expert, it didn't look like the players understood what he wanted them to do. That's a concern because he isn't going to be able to sign 11 new players so managing the bulk of what we've got is important.

Yeah, quite possibly, he speaks really well whenever I've heard him interviewed and interacts well with supporters too.

I don't know any players PC has signed before, his CV is so obscure I doubt many of us have heard of most of the players he's managed. I can only go by what I watched this season under him at Rangers and his past managerial record before joining us. At Uniao Liera they finished 9th the season before he took over, finished 10th the season he was in charge and he was sacked with them bottom of the league the following season. At Nacional they finished 6th the season before PC, then under PC came 7th, he was then sacked the following season with them 14th in a 16 team league. Then to Santos Laguna in Mexico. They finished 4th and qualified for the local Champion's League the season before PC joined. As I explained in the other thread the Mexican league is a confusing bugger with 2 leagues per season. So his Santos Laguna side finished 6th, 2nd, 4th, 9th and finally 8th under his management. So he had one decent season with a 2nd and 4th place finish, qualifying his side for the play-offs, he lost both in the semis. His 9th place was outside the play-off places. His 8th place was the last play-off place, his Santos side then won the play-off. This is the 'league' it's claimed he won in Mexico. He was then sacked the following season after a couple of months with his side 3rd bottom. In Qatar Al-Gharafa finished 7th before he joined, then 9th in his first full season in charge and 5th last season. There is nothing in his past that allows me to believe he can spot a player or improve a player, frankly how he keeps getting employed as a manager is a credit to his agent. So in summary, I've no idea who he's got wrong in the past but he's clearly got quite a few wrong judging by three of his previous four sides firing him. I've no idea why so many of our support have so much faith in someone with such an ordinary CV.

Of course it's a bigger risk than signing Ali Crawford. To join Rangers Ali Crawford wouldn't need to move house far less move continent. The only questions regarding signing someone like Ali Crawford are 1. is he could enough? and 2. is worth what he would cost? Other than that he'd be playing in a league he's familiar with against teams he knows well. Signing anyone from the Mexican league adds considerably more complications. You've got the same ability and cost questions plus you've a whole raft of social, cultural and personal issues to address too. There was a really interesting interview with Roy Keane shortly after he retired. He was speaking about Juan Sebastian Veron and how excited Keane had been when Man Utd signed him. Keane felt his signing was the thing Utd needed to push on and dominate in England and Europe. He played against Veron and knew how good he was. Veron had 73 caps for Argentina, was South American player of the year twice and had won leagues in both Argentina and Italy, Man U broke the British transfer record to sign him. Veron simply didn't settle and Keane was furious with him for it. Keane admitted he'd tear strips off him because he wasn't delivering what Keane knew he could. Keane had no time for his excuses. Veron was living in a hotel in Manchester, his family stayed in Italy initially and he was living alone. He spoke English but not well, he struggled to follow the 'banter' in the dressing room and became isolated from the rest of the team. Keane would say to him that he was a professional and very well paid and so it shouldn't matter if he was living in a youth hostel it shouldn't affect his performance on the park, he'd a job to do and he should get on with it. Before his first season was finished Veron would take any excuse to go back to Italy to visit his family or to go to Argentina for international matches, much to the annoyance of Ferguson and Keane who wanted him to put Man Utd first. Keane was speaking about this shortly after retiring. He'd just spent less than six months at Celtic. He lived in a hotel whilst playing up here, travelling back to his family and home in Manchester after Saturday games and returning on a Monday evening with his manager's permission to miss Monday training. But the point was he couldn't settle. He was only 3 hours drive away but staying in a hotel full time unsettled him, he hadn't realised how much he relied on his wife and family for stability and allowing him to focus on football and only football. His thoughts turned to Veron and how he'd reacted to him being 'unsettled'. He said he'd never understood that before and how it can affect a footballer. Now Pena isn't Veron, every person is different and reacts differently to changes and set backs. But, the list of Spanish speaking South, Central and indeed North American players succeeding in Scotland is a small one indeed. There are reasons for this that aren't all football related. I simply don't know if Pena is a good enough player or can adapt and thrive in Scotland, and, let's be honest, neither do you or any of the other posters on here. So it comes down to faith in the manager. You have it, I don't.

Be fair Trublu it was a pretty stupid and insulting question to ask, whoever you were asking it of. If you think there are posters on here who don't want Rangers signing RCs then I don't think you've been paying much attention to what people post. I can't remember the last time any Rangers fan I've met expressed that opinion. Indeed even when we signed Mo Jo most of the guys I knew who were unhappy were unhappy at signing an ex-Celtic playing, Celtic supporting, convicted ned, they'd have accepted Maradona without grumble. Being concerned that a Mexican, with very little English and no experience of British football, might struggle to adapt and flourish in Scotland isn't being racist, bigoted or short-sighted, it strikes me as a fair concern. It's a big cultural and footballing adjustment, but it's not impossible, he might go native like Nacho Novo, and become a legend, who knows.

Okay, I'm not being condescending but do you know much about the Mexican domestic league? Caixinha didn't 'win the league' in Mexico as we would understand it. Mexican domestic football is a confusing array of split leagues and convoluted knock-out tournaments. In his first season managing Santos Laguna in Mexico they finished second in the 'first' league of the season. The top 8 sides then qualify for a knock-out tournament to decide the Champions, Santos Laguna lost in the 'semis'. In the 'second' league of season 2013/14 Santos Laguna finished 4th and again qualified for the knock-out part of the league where once again they lost in the 'semis'. In season 2014/15 Santos Laguna finished 9th in the 'first' league of the season and so didn't qualify for the knock-out tournament. In the 'second' league Santos finished 8th on goal difference (a goal difference of +3 over 17 matches) they qualified for the knock-out tournament which they surprisingly won. That's the 'league' he won. In actual fact they finished in 8th place on aggregate but get to call themselves Champions because they won one of the knockout competitions. He resigned a month into the following season with Santos Laguna bottom of the league. But please be clear Santos Laguna at no time under PC won more games or accumulated more points than the rest of the Mexican club sides. His time in Portugal is really nothing to boast about and his period in Qatar saw his side finish 9th in a 14 team league and then 5th last season. So I'm sorry but 'sketchy' is a fair word to describe his managerial record to date. I agree about young players, they'll either sink or swim and will be the better for playing some first team games. I disagree entirely about a manager not being able to change a player's mental strength. For me that's one of the core attributes a manager should have. Again I disagree, a lot can be achieved in a week. Celtic have been better than us in every match this season but in our last visit to Parkhead we at least competed with them and earned a credible draw. The side knew how to play that formation and those tactics already, that was what PC should have spent the week drilling them in. We have the players we have, those are the ones he needs to coach. See again I don't think PC has actually had that much stick. The team has and certain players have but criticism of PC hasn't been over-the-top. Yes he's not been here long but in that time I've yet to see anything that's made me think he's the man to take us forward. We've won a couple of matches we shouldn't have and were the better side when we beat Aberdeen at Pittodrie, but Aberdeen learned from that match and were far better than us in the return at Ibrox. Time will tell which of us is correct on this (and I genuinely hope it's you).

I agree. My post wasn't meant to be passed off as fact, merely explain that TheBoyHarley's post wasn't sharing some ridiculous gossip, rather that some fairly well connected and influential Bears were sharing very similar information quite openly this week.

Everyone can see that some of our current players aren't good enough, that doesn't make someone a managerial visionary. I don't think PC has had anything like the opprobrium poured on him that some of our performances have deserved. I don't have a huge issue with the fact his CV is sketchy. Bill Struth, John Grieg, Graeme Souness and Walter Smith hadn't managed anyone else before taking the Rangers first team job and Jock Wallace had only managed Berwick Rangers. I do have a problem with the teams he's put out since taking the job, the tactics and formations he's employed and performances Rangers have produced. I've seen nothing that makes me believe he can take a player and make him better, that he can mould a team and make them stronger than the sum of their parts, because that's what we need. Criticism of Pedro, at least on here, as been considered. Everyone wants him to succeed, it's just proving very difficult for some of us to see how that'll happen based on what we've seen so far. I'd be the first to say 'give him time' if I could see what he's trying to do. It's not that Celtic inflicted our worst home defeat for a century, it's that we learned nothing from playing them the week before. How doesn't that worry all of you? Fuxake, fill the midfield, sit deep and deny them space, frustrate them and try and hit them on the break or make the most of set-pieces. All of us would have accepted a turgid 0-0 draw in that match. I genuinely think we've been lucky not to be on the end of some serious doings since that game too. If Thistle and Aberdeen had a striker of any kind of quality both would have been out of sight by half time. It's fairly clear he'll get to bring in his choice of players in the summer and will at the very least get to start next season as manager. No one hopes I wrong about him more than me. But balanced criticism, particularly between fellow bears, should be encouraged, not decried.

The rumour told to me earlier this week wasn't that he wants to be DOF but that he's acting as Director of Football in the absence of one. Whether that's through choice or necessity wasn't made clear. The same person told me the Park family are financially keeping the whole show on the road currently as no one else is investing. He maybe deluded too of course.

It's the difference between religion and science. Some of us are looking for evidence but we're being offered faith. It's not a lack of patience that afflicts me it's a lack of evidence. For the foreseeable future we're going to have less money to spend on players, both salaries and transfer fees, than Celtic. So we're going to have poorer players than them overall, that's the reality we need to work in. We need a manager who can create incredible team spirit and who can inspire that team to a higher level of performance than they'd otherwise produce. That's the type of manager we need. McLeish managed that, Smith managed that, finding someone who can do that isn't beyond us. I've seen nothing from PC yet to suggest he can. I hope I'm wrong.

Here's my problem Gaffer, a number of people are saying it's the players fault, he's inherited the players and they're not good enough. Well, those are the players we've got and part of his job is to craft a team from them. We won't have much more money next season so the chances are any players who leave will be replaced by players on similar salaries, so there's a good chance they'll be of a similar quality. What we need just now is a manager who can make a silk purse from a sow's ear. There aren't too many of them about unfortunately and I'm far from sure Pedro is one of them. Anyway, to the point of the thread. It's nice to be back in the top flight, we shouldn't take that for granted. Qualifying for European football I can't think of any others.

Interesting, thanks. See, I do expect the 'bounce' that a new manager brings. The players who have been underperforming suddenly start performing, the changes in training and coaching staff pick the place up and the players are keen to impress the new gaffer. It might only last for a few matches but it's discernible even to the uneducated eye of a supporter. I've not seen that. I disagree that most of our players aren't able to compete at this level. They aren't good enough to win the league and compete with Celtic but they are capable of competing with every other side. A good coach makes the best of what he's got, again I'm not seeing that. Our tactics against Celtic at Ibrox were bewildering, against Thistle and Aberdeen last night again there seemed to be no plan beyond a long ball to Garner. When McCall took over you could see right away how he wanted his team to play, there was a clear pattern to our play. It was also clear the players understood it too. Likewise when Warburton came in, you could see very clearly what he wanted his team to do, it didn't always come off but there were no doubts what was being tried. My big concern is no one seems to know what PC is trying to do, and I include the players in that. Why is Kenny Miller in midfield? Why play Toral when the league is finished and he's going back to his home club? I recall discussing PLG with BlueDell back in the day. I was a believer, give him time was my mantra, don't judge him on performances and results 'yet' he needs time to instil his ideas, it's the fault of the players not the manager. Basically everything I'm hearing said now about PC. The team last night looked demotivated, slow and disorganised. Being organised and 'up-for-it' is the bear minimum I expect from a Rangers team. A manager should be able to achieve that at least, whether they are his players or not. Rousseau explained we played a 433 . Well a 433 as I understand means you play a 451 when you don't have the ball. We didn't do that last night. We were completely over run in midfield, as we were against a 10 man Hearts and against Thistle before that. I hate criticising a Rangers manager, I've stuck up for almost all of them in past long after most had turned on them. But I'm afraid I fear the worst with PC.

What have you seen Uilleam to make you think PC has the first idea what's required and how to achieve it? I'm not trying to pick a fight but I'm curious what you're seeing in what Pedro is doing that's invisible to me?

At what point do we start to accept that a mistake has been made with the appointment of our current manager? Do we accept the evidence of our own eyes that he's tactically inept, slow to change formations and seems unable to motivate and communicate with players? Or should we wait until he's spent our summer transfer budget on players his successor might not want? I'd be willing to give him time if I could discern even the slightest clue as to what he's trying to do, but his formations are puzzling and tactics currently seem to involve a long ball to Garner for a knock-on. I'm sorry but Pedro Caixinho was a mistake and we'd be better grasping that nettle now rather than in six months time.

Just me that thinks McInnes was correct then? McInnes understands what managing Rangers really means, I'm not sure Caixinha does yet. Finishing second will eventually get you the sack at Rangers, McInnes knows this because he's an ex-player and a fan. I personally think Caixinha talks too much and would be better advised to keep his counsel more. He should have avoided speaking about the Aberdeen captain, he should have seen that fishing attempt a mile off and batted it away. Instead he riles up the Aberdeen manager and quite possibly the Aberdeen side before we play them. This follows him naming his team early before Kilmarnock and his tactical masterclass against Celtic at Ibrox. I know as Rangers fans it's in our DNA to stick up for our own, particularly if the criticism is coming from the Aberdeen manager, but I couldn't even find fault in what Lennon said on this occasion. What people see in Caixinha is baffling me. Sure he speaks well, but you know what so do I, really I do, but you wouldn't want me managing Rangers. The only positive I can take is we've managed to win games we really shouldn't have. Thistle outplayed us for 80 minutes and even a dire 10 man Hearts deserved more than they got. But we took full points despite watching us being painful at times. I think McInnes was an under-rated player who never let us down and has done a pretty decent job at Aberdeen. He's built a team made up of home grown players, loan signings, players picked up from the depths of the English leagues and frees from Inverness and St Mirren. Anyway, all that being said I hope Caixinha makes me eat my words and we thrash Aberdeen tonight.

What is the Darren Cooney situation?

Believe it or not we actually did have a very good PR agency at Rangers for a number of years, however the issue isn't always who does the PR but what strategy they employ to achieve the brief they've been given. That was certainly the case when Media House were retained. I can't comment on Level 5, I've no personal experience of them. What I would say though is they are simply a company employed by the club to carry out a task. None of us know what their brief is and how their performance is measured. In my opinion the issue lies with our board of directors and our Chief Executive. They do the hiring and firing, they set the strategy. None of us know what Level 5 have been asked to do, what resources they've got to do it and how it's being measured. Until we do it's hard to criticise the PR company involved. I would point out though that our current board haven't received much criticism in the media, so the PR company might actually be doing the job they are paid to do very well. I agree entirely with the OP that our PR needs over-hauled, I'm just not convinced the issue lies entirely with the PR agency we employ.

Oh, I don't know about that, I was certainly fearful whenever I saw him on the team sheet...

Au contraire. The Swiss were regarded as being the finest soldiers in Europe for centuries, their mercenaries were sought after by all the great powers as they were seen as being virtually unbeatable and they didn't change sides once they made an agreement. The Swiss were employed as Royal guards by almost every royal family in Europe as well as to guard the Vatican. The mixture of Germanic discipline, French cunning and Italian fire plus yomping up and down mountains all day meant the Swiss were feared and respected. Senderos might be the exception that makes the rule of course.

I understand the players took a salary deferment on the agreement that no non-playing staff would then be made redundant. They were told that if cuts in outgoings (ie salaries) were made the club would be able to leave Admin and then salaries would go back to their previous levels. There was an agreement with Whyte that the players would receive the deferred salary back when the club left Administration. In the event the club didn't leave Admin (at least not the way everyone hoped it would) and, I understand, the players never received the salary they agreed to defer. I was told that by the agent of one of the players, but he could be lying I suppose. There was a degree of bitterness towards Whyte and the Admin team as some of the players felt they'd been misled. There was a huge degree of suspicion towards Green and having felt they'd been shafted by Whyte and Duff & Phelps they weren't in the mood to be shafted again. Any Christmas bonuses paid were either before the Admin event, when the good ship Whyte was sailing on as if nothing untoward was happening, or after we failed to emerge from Admin and we were in Div 3 and controlled by Green. Duff & Phelps didn't pay anyone any bonuses, well, maybe themselves!

Who by? Who paid the players who had deferred their salaries? I understood that salaries were deferred on the understanding that the club would be taken out of administration, remain in the top flight and carry on as if nothing had happened. At the time we went into administration most people assumed we'd come out of it in a few months. When that didn't happen no one got paid. Are you saying the players were paid their salary in full whilst we were in Administration?