It’s only a matter of time until the axe falls. That is the only assessment I can offer on the turbulent and contentious Pedro Caixinha regime. Those in charge at Rangers gave the Portuguese the keys to the kingdom but his torrid reign continues to unravel.

There are just too many things going wrong and too many things that have gone wrong since he took over at the helm and it’s going to take a huge upturn in fortunes for him to survive now.

The inability to win three games in a row, for instance, is a fairly damning indictment of his tenure. Rangers have the second biggest budget in Scotland and can’t win three in a row? They are not playing like a team that should, at worst, be finishing second and getting to Cup Finals.

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It’s no disgrace to lose to Motherwell. I think Motherwell are a terrific side under Stephen Robinson and they have visibly improved. Rangers, on the other hand, have not done that under their manager. If you are a Rangers fan you are entitled to feel aggrieved. Pedro’s comments have become ever stranger too. It’s a new level of oddness every week. A manager has to be very careful when he mixes his messages and Caixinha has provided classic examples of the perils of doing just that in the wake of the defeat to Motherwell.

Was it his fault or was it his players fault? He has to make up his mind. Nobody knows. Rangers as a club have to think what they are doing in philosophical terms. People hate when you talk about philosophy but it comes down to ideas and somebody at Rangers decided it was a good idea to re-tool the club under Pedro’s image. It was a big gamble at the time and that appears to be coming home to roost now. If you’re a Rangers fan, you’re thinking ‘this doesn’t stack up’.

You can say what you like about Mark Warburton when he was in charge, and a lot of people said bad things, but at least there was some form of plan and a philosophy. When I watch Rangers now, I don’t really know what they are trying to do. It’s seems to be a case of throwing a few darts at the wall and hoping one or two stick.

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It’s a big week coming up for Rangers. They have Kilmarnock, buoyed by a new manager coming in, and then a really stern examination against Hearts. I do wonder if Caixinha will withstand these tests. Given the current state of affairs, I’d be very wary about putting any money on Rangers winning both of these games.

It’s going to take a fantastic run of results to keep Caixinha in his job. As the manager of Rangers, you carry the can if results go wrong. That’s life at such a huge, demanding club. It’s not a forgiving job. Once you lose the supporters, and there are signs they are moving away in that direction, it’s very difficult to come back from that. They need results but they need performances too. The fans need to see something from these players who are simply not delivering. Rangers are carrying far too many passengers. The recruitment has been, by and large, a failure. Similarly, the tactics have been a failure too. You then ask, what is going to be different in the weeks ahead? They have ground to make up. The target has to be Aberdeen. At the moment they are six points behind them but that doesn’t tell the whole story. The gap is much bigger psychologically. These games over the next few days will be huge indicators to where Caixinha’s future lies. Frankly, though, I’d be surprised if he’s in the job much longer.

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AND ANOTHER THING

I’m really looking forward to tonight’s Aberdeen versus Celtic tussle and this is the kind of encounter that everybody in Scotland should savour too. Yes, Celtic against Rangers may be the one that means more to the majority of people but this is THE fixture now. These are the best two teams we have in Scotland and it’s one to sit back and enjoy.

It’s been a fixture that has been a difficult one for Aberdeen down the years. They measure themselves against Celtic and they want to get at close as possible to them. I thought they gave them a terrific game in the Cup Final last season. For 60 minutes they were fabulous until Celtic’s class shone through. This is a good time for Aberdeen to be playing Celtic with the Champions in the midst of a gruelling run of games both at home and on the European front.

Aberdeen keep trying to come up with new ways to overcome Celtic and it has proven difficult. Man-by-man, Celtic are better, but one of these days, Aberdeen will win.

If they can get in amongst Celtic, press them high and attack the defence, which provides the little chink in the armour, then there is an opportunity. Derek McInnes continues to do a terrific job and Aberdeen will believe they have as good a chance as they have had in recent years of taking something from Celtic. It should be a fascinating contest.