Rangers take a punt on the Portuguese – a gamble they cannot afford to lose

In an age in which gambling has become the norm in which we are bombarded with adverts urging us to take a flutter perhaps we should not be at all surprised that Rangers have got in on the act.

Already having their famous shirts emblazoned with the 32Red the Ibrox club’s decision to recruit Pedro Caixinha  should most definitely be considered a massive punt, one which had better work out for Dave King and co or else they will face the full wrath of an already sceptical support.

Frankly on paper the recruitment of the 46 year old Portuguese appears a baffling one – this is a guy who other than a successful two year period in charge of the Mexican outfit Santos Laguna has had a very patchy career in football management.

Totally devoid of any experience of Scottish football nor being in the hot seat of any club the size of Rangers the odds on Caixinha being the success the Rangers fans crave for must be extremely high and one must seriously wonder as to why the Glasgow giants have opted to hire him.

He may have been mightily impressive when interviewed by Non-Executive Director Graeme Park, Managing Director Stewart Robertson and Director of Finance and Administration Andrew Dickson but for the club to recruit this unknown Portuguese who is already more famous for tackling bulls is one hell of a gamble.

The appointment of his predecessor was certainly another risk – a former city trader turned football manager – but for the Glasgow club to throw all their chips behind a man not even serious students of the game had heard of only a matter of two weeks ago seems pretty extraordinary.

And fact he is coming to Scotland at a time in which Brendan Rodgers has Celtic on a totally another level throws further doubts as to why Rangers have sufficient faith in Caixinha when the most obvious candidate to help stem their old rivals tide was much more closer to home.

The failure of the Ibrox club to sound out Derek McInnes is utterly baffling, but they have made their bed now and as mentioned previously the appointment of Caixinha had better work out or else Dave King will face the full wrath of the support.

Both Ally McCoist and Warburton ultimately failed so it is imperative for the absentee landlord of the Govan club that this is a success.

And for Rangers success is significantly closing the gap on Celtic to the extent they can be considered serious contenders for the title again.

To achieve that Caixinha has to drastically uproot the current playing squad which is overloaded with below average players lacking the necessary grit and passion which is a necessity attribute for anyone to possess to succeed at Ibrox.

It will be fascinating indeed to see how he goes about his task – without the financial muscle many of his predecessors had at their disposal it is likely he will be forced into utilising any potential scouting networks as well as ensuring the club’s recent below par record of introducing half decent players from the youth academy is reversed.

What will also be of great interest will be what style of play will be the most favoured, by all accounts Caixinha likes to adopt an attacking philosophy with an emphasis on strength but not an over reliance on defending which will no doubt be met with concern by a fan base frustrated by  failure on the man he succeeds to ever deal with effectively.

An aim of unveiling Caixinha alongside Ross Wilson as the new Director of Football at the start of the week was the target of the Rangers board.

Wilson’s decision to decline the offer has left the club behind the eight ball and are left scrambling around to pinpoint the man they wish to take on the DOF role which presents the peculiar scenario in which any potential new appointment may be of the opinion Caixinha is not the man they have confidence in.

But that’s for another day.

24 hours from now Caixinha will most likely be getting his head down scrutinizing what he can do to help turn around the fortunes of a team in the immediate aftermath of another mauling at the hands of their old foes from the other side of the city.

He had better be prepared for a job which many others simply could not handle – you can bet on that.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The mother of all comebacks as Barca trounce PSG on an unforgettable night in the Nou Camp

Over six decades now the Nou Camp has been the scene for some of the most incredible football matches in the history of the game.

However the events of Wednesday March 8 2017 will surely surpass any of them – an evening in which the watching football world must have collectively jumped in unison at the sight of the comeback of all comebacks as FC Barcelona trounced Paris Saint-Germain and securing progress to the last eight of the Champions League.

When Sergi Roberto got on the end of that impudent lob from Neymar and touched the ball past Kevin Trapp in the fifth minute of injury time the orgasmic emotion which engulfed this famous old stadium must have been felt all over planet football.

We may not all be Barca fans but we are all fans of moments that simply take your breath away and that goal was one of them, a moment to be forever treasured further underlining the fact there really is no sport in the world which can produce such wonder and joy.

Yes as supporters of our respective clubs we have all experienced similar feelings of euphoria but this was something different.

This was something magical.

Lets not downplay this, Barcelona were seven minutes from elimination from the competition yet scored three goals in that tiniest period of time and in doing so became the first team in the 25 year history of this competition to successfully overturn a four goal down deficit.

To say this was a dramatic night does not do it service, underplaying the meaning of the word.

This was a night in which those unfortunate souls who just don’t do football must have all our sympathies as they missed out on the sheer exhilaration that the beautiful game can sometimes produce.

Pre-match the atmosphere was one of nervous anticipation for the thousands of Barca supporters waving their flags in the hope that they could be seeing something amazing yet that hope must have came more from their hearts than their heads.

Yes on their own turf Barcelona can score goals, plenty of them too, but the idea that they could keep a clean sheet and prevent the likes of Cavani, Di Maria and Draxler from finding the back of their own net seemed implausible.

And yet 45 minutes in and the impossible appeared possible, two goals ahead of a ragged out of sorts PSG the dream appeared close to reality and when Messi smashed home from the penalty spot five minutes into the second period you could almost feel the giddy excitement reaching out from the TV screen.

But seven minutes later and like a big boy bursting a small kids balloon we were all rudely awoken from that dream as  Edison Cavani fired home to reduce the arrears and leave a huge dagger pierced through the heart of the Catalans.

All too easy in the astounding emotional state we all experienced in the immediate aftermath of this match to forget that PSG could, and probably should, have scored again with Cavani guilty of a poor effort which was stopped by Ter Stegen.

The remainder of the game was flat when it came to the hosts, clearly deflated and dispirited the Barca players had that look of defeat, like the person who has selected the winning lottery numbers only to have lost their ticket.

However where there is Neymar and co there is hope.

This was the night in which the stick thin little Brazilian, heir to the throne in which King Leo sits stole the crown.

First was the free-kick which he somehow turned the law of angles upside down by finding the top right hand corner of Trapp’s goal in the 88th minute.

Then three minutes later he converted the pressurized penalty to level the aggregate score before in the final minute of injury time he chipped the ball forward into the path of the onrushing Roberto who in turn found the back of the net sending the home support into raptures.

Now yes the two penalty decisions given in favour of Luis Enrique’s men were of the ‘soft’ variety but it would be wholly unfair not to revel in the celebrations which greeted the final whistle second after Roberto’s goal.

Barcelona were fully deserving of their victory and on this showing it would be foolish not to believe the Barca boss may be departing the Nou Camp in the summer with both the Champions and Spanish league trophies in his hands.

Surely the confidence alone which must be surging through the veins of all his players on the back of this insane night will ensure they enter the final crucial three months of the campaign with the certainty they have been written off too soon?

As for their demoralised opponents from Paris this was a shattering blow from which many, definitely including manager Unai Emery, will need a long, long time to recover from.

There is always two sides to every story and whilst the glory belongs to Barca this was a defeat of unimaginable proportions for the oil rich French outfit.

Not only did they blow a four goal advantage from the first leg for them to throw it away after Cavani’s goal losing three in the final seven minutes was a shocking indictment on them and the mental blow will no doubt enable Monaco to beat them to the title in their own country.

But for all the gut wrenching sense of failure for the French club this was a night in which FC Barcelona lived up to their reputation as THE club who can consistently produce moments of wonder which make them one of the most watched and adored in the history of the sport.

The Nou Camp may never see anything like this again.