PEDRO CAIXINHA has told his Rangers players they will see the devil in him if they go against his Ibrox wishes.

The Portuguese will take charge of the Light Blues for the first time this weekend after agreeing a deal to become the new Gers boss.

Caixinha has spent recent days putting his message across to his players at Auchenhowie as he focuses on the Premiership clash with Hamilton Accies.

The 46-year-old has vowed to set high standards for himself and his squad to live up to and has targeted second spot in the standings and Scottish Cup glory this term.

And Caixinha is determined to get into the minds of his players as he strives for improvement in the coming weeks and months.

He said: “When I was a student I did a sport science degree, and I have my masters’ degree. “I had to write a dissertation and I did it on the psychological side of sports.

“I always loved that side of thing because I do believe that if you change people’s way of thinking you change a lot. If you change their hearts then you don’t change that much.

“I was always curious about what it means to be a coach.

“The people who are the best at what they do is the guy who identifies the things he needs to improve. That’s the one question and I told it to the players.

“I said that they will get everything from me. But I said ‘if you try and so something the opposite way from what I want, you will see the devil in front of you.’ They will see the devil in the human body.

“Their response? There was no response at all. Were they scared? No, not at all. If they are scared they cannot perform at all.

“But it was just a case of me being frontal with them and passing on what I am and what I want from them.”

Caixinha saw Rangers in action for the first time last weekend as Graeme Murty’s side clinched a 1-1 draw in the Old Firm clash at Parkhead.

He has wasted little time in making his presence felt at Ibrox as a new Light Blue era gets underway following Mark Warburton’s controversial exit.

And the former Al-Gharafa boss hopes his strong character will help him rise to the Gers challenges after putting pen-to-paper on a two-and-a-half year deal.

He said: “Being a manager is about managing. Managing illusions. Managing criticism. Managing expectations. Managing the games.

“It’s all about managing. I need to manage.

“Let me tell you something: when I was in Mexico the president of the club was a fantastic guy. One day he came to me in my office. He drew on the board a big pie, like a pizza, and he drew a lot of slices.

“He said ‘regarding training you are 9 out of 10. Preparing the team you are 9 out of 10. Regarding relations with the players you are 8, and so on, ‘but sometimes you need to control your anger, you need to control your character’.

“And we realised from that moment it was important for me to know that and to work on it.

“So I started working with a coach. He was watching the picture from outside, not a psychologist but a coach who tells you how to manage those situations, how to manage with the players, how to manage with the press, how to manage with yourself.

“This is the situation. I’m a guy who looks to be all the time detail-oriented.

“It needs to start with me. If I want other guys to behave in a way in some situation they need to do.

“But it’s about identity. My genes are my genes. My character is my character.

“If I’m not going to be myself it’s not me, so finished. Kaput.”