Portuguese at Ibrox joins the ranks of left-field coaches who arrived in Scotland’s Premiership but were destined for short staysTop-class foresight was hardly required before suggesting Pedro Caixinha and Rangers may not prove to be an effective alliance. Or a long-term one.One glance at his CV at the time of his appointment was sufficient to raise eyebrows concerning a coach prone to changing job with such regularity it seemed odd that Rangers, a club desperate for stability, would be attracted to him in the first place. Related: Rangers sack Pedro Caixinha as manager after seven months in charge Related: Pedro Caixinha under pressure after Rangers slump to Motherwell defeat Continue reading...
The news that Rangers were found to have used employee benefit trusts to pay players came hard on the heels of one of the Ibrox club’s most humiliating nightsThe rest of Scottish football will never tire from laughing at Rangers. If that seems harsh, it is the natural reaction from a phase led by Sir David Murray in which the Ibrox club made it their business to lord success and extravagant spending over all before them. Rangers’ largesse came at the cost of unpopularity; not that they cared one jot. Big business, too big for Scotland, heading for another stratosphere. Which indeed they were; just not in anything like the form Murray promised. Related: Rangers suffer humiliating loss to Luxembourg...
Millwall and Lincoln are in the mood for further upsets, José Mourinho has a tactical teaser at Chelsea and Rangers at risk of Old Firm derby embarrassmentThe FA Cup quarter-final at Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday is a fitting way for Neil Harris to celebrate two years in charge of the club he loves. Regardless of the result, the club have been upwardly mobile under Harris, the club’s all-time record goalscorer. Harris initially took caretaker charge on 10 March 2015 before assuming the full-time position a month later. Their start to this season was tricky – at the end of September they had 12 points from 10 games – but now Harris’s side are only six points off the automatic promotion...
Englishman heads for the exit at Ibrox but he had to contend with financial problems, lack of boardroom support – and Celtic’s crushing superiorityThe outcome necessary to endorse Mark Warburton’s status as the Rangers manager will never arrive. Likewise, those sceptical about the 54-year-old’s ability to deliver a perfectly acceptable return at the end of this, Rangers’ first season back in Scottish football’s top flight, will never be able to speak with certainty.Such a state of flux rather sums up events at Ibrox, almost five years to the day since administration sent both Rangers and the Scottish game into such a tailspin that neither would ever be the same again. Related: Rangers announce Mark Warburton’s resignation – despite manager’s denial...
The midfielder’s move to Rangers did not work out, to put it mildly, and it will be intriguing to see how he fares on his return to the English top flightThe announcement that Joey Barton is to be re-signed by Burnley in January heralds the beginning of a new chapter in the colourful life of a footballer whose most significant contributions since leaving the club for Rangers last summer have come in literary, rather than football form.Towards the end of No Nonsense: The Autobiography, his interesting collaboration with the journalist Michael Calvin, Barton announced his intention to win the Scottish Premiership with Rangers, a bold but commendable claim that has been rendered ludicrous by his fractious and protracted departure from...