For anyone who doubted that Pedro Caixinha will always be true to himself, they only had to be in attendance at his press conference yesterday to know that this is a man ploughing his own path. Presumably in a caravan.

Quite apart from his eyebrow-raising analogy about him driving that Rangers caravan while the dogs – everyone else – were barking at him, he also set out in detail how he will never compromise his principles to bend to the will of the Scottish game.

In short, if Rangers are to succeed or fail, they will do so by adhering to Caixinha’s philosophies on the game, and the manager will live or die by his refusal to adapt to the style of his opposition.

And when the time does come for an uncoupling between the Portuguese coach and the club, whether that is in the near or far future, at least he will be able to say that he did it in his own, unique, way.

“I need to understand it, but I don't need to adapt,” Caixinha said. “Because, if I adapt, I will be like the others, right? That's what you mean.

“No. That way, never. I have my own identity, my own character, my own philosophy, my own style of football - which fits, of course, this club.

“Because this is a massive club. And the massive clubs play, for example, like we played against Hearts, when only one team on the park looked like they were trying to play football, with the other just concerned about defending and keeping their own goal without conceding.

“So that's the way I see football, always in a positive way.

“You might ask me about the physical side you see in Scotland being important.

“I don't see it as so important like that. I see it as a regime rather than a dominant thing.

“For me, the dominant thing is always the decision making, the tactical element, the identity of a team and how they understand the game, how they perform.”

A visit to Dingwall is fast-becoming Scottish football’s answer to a wet Wednesday night in Stoke, and whether Rangers can successfully play their brand of football in the Highlands tomorrow afternoon remains to be seen.

Caixinha expects Ross County to be physical and play long balls, and he complimented Jim McIntyre’s side on the effectiveness of their football. But he says that Rangers’ own style can win the day.

“We need to impose our style of play,” he said. “That's the difference between respect in football - if one team has a certain way of playing, the other team needs to contain that football rather than play their own football.

“So I think we need to impose that football. We really need to impose it.

“We know that we are going to have a difficult challenge because in three matches against Ross County last season, we had three draws.

“So they have that confidence, they might think they can do the same or even better.

“They are a strong side with the long balls and a great and aggressive second wave arriving from midfield.

“We need to impose our game and not let that happen. That's the way it is.

“I always use the example, when we were at Sporting Lisbon in 2004/05, we played against a couple of very good teams from England.

“Middlesbrough had a very good side in those days, and Newcastle under Graeme Souness had a great side too.

“We had to understand how to play and beat them. If we play in the same way with physicality and with the ball in the air, fighting for second balls and long balls, then you are not going to beat them because that’s the way they play.

“We need to understand which is your way to try to beat them, that is what I’m referring to.”

All of this rather made it sound like Caixinha believed that County’s style, and Scottish football in general, was stuck in the dark ages, but he was at pains to point out that his observations were not meant to be disparaging.

“I can tell you that you have a lot of good teams trying to play good, positive football,” he said.

“There are then other teams who try to play much more on the physical side of the game, which is good and is normal.

“It is the culture here and I’m not criticising that. What I’m saying is that you have to understand that to play against it, but not in the same way.”

If Caixinha can hear the attack dogs barking at him now, then the cacophony after the hounds are released in the wake of a defeat tomorrow will be deafening.

But he senses that the fans are acknowledging the effort that is going into making Rangers a force once again, and he can feel that support from the man on the street.

“I’m not a guy who goes a lot on the streets, but I consider myself a normal person,” he said.

“When I need to go shopping, when I need to have dinner, when I need to go to the city centre, when I need to contact other people because I am also a citizen of the world, I contact with the anonymous fans.

“They are supporting us and backing us in everything. We know that. One of the points that you can say you are really working with a massive club is the fan base.

“The fan base knows that this team is working hard for them. It is working hard to win matches. It is working hard to bring the club to the reality they want. We want more. That’s the reality.

“But we need to be focused on what really matters and what’s really important. It’s hard work. It’s never give up. Be resilient. Be persistent. Never stop. Move the caravan.”