Rangers Fan View: Decision on Pedro Caixinha should not be made until January

On the back of the Old Firm defeat, the knives are being sharpened and some of the Rangers fans are ready to take the plunge and see Pedro Caixinha’s reign come to an end.

Last February, I felt it would be a good idea for him to come in and assess the squad. However, in hindsight, it seems like it’s worked against him. He had a squad of duffers assembled by Mark Warburton. Yet many have used it as a stick to beat Pedro with. I’m of the mindset that I wouldn’t judge him in that period simply because it was not his team.

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This season was always going to be challenging. The playing squad revolving door was in full swing for the third summer in a row. I still maintain that, overall, we have improved the quality of the squad.

We’ve gone from Rob Kiernan to Bruno Alves at the back, from Andy Halliday and Jason Holt to Graham Dorrans and Ryan Jack in midfield and from the likes of Martyn Waghorn to Alfredo Morelos in the attack.

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If people cannot see that improvement, then I suggest they open their eyes. I feel a lot more confident in this group of players than the dross the previous manager brought to Ibrox.

Whilst I totally understand that Caixinha’s appointment wasn’t sexy enough for everyone, when I see people suggest there has been zero improvement, it makes me want to bang my head off a six-foot wall. Massive improvements, no. But there have been incremental improvements for sure.

In fact, it’s almost similar to the summer when Alex McLeish left and Paul Le Guen took over. Le Guen lost his job due to poor results and partly to do with him not having the stomach for the fight and I believe some players not buying into him from the beginning.

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Fortunately, that worked out well for us in the short-term, with the return of Walter Smith.

This time if the board pull the trigger on Caixinha there is no Walter Smith type to come in and bail them out.

It’s time for them to show their mettle; give the man they went to such lengths to put in the job some time to get it right. Granted, the results have not been as good as we would have liked, but I feel some modicum of patience and understanding is required at this juncture.

He’s only had one transfer window to try and turn the squad around that’s simply not a realistic time frame to get us where we need to be, in my opinion. Ideally, he should get another three windows longer term to shape the squad in his image.

However, on the other side of the coin, I know he won’t get that time. It’s the nature of the job at Rangers. To be afforded that time, he has to get results, starting with a win at Hamilton on Friday evening. In fact, unless things get really, really bad, I’d give him to the winter break and assess where we are.

However, I do hope the board hold their nerve for now because if we change manager again, it would only lead to another summer of upheaval. And if the next man gets off to an iffy start after seven league games and succumbs to a European exit, the same will happen to him. I am worried slightly that if we keep chopping in changing, it will only further lead us around the vicious circle of failure.

I wouldn’t like to see him lose his job right now. But one thing will save him – winning. That’s the be all and end all. It’s now up to him to prove that he can bounce back and turn it around.

For Rangers’ sake, I hope he manages to do so.