Alex Rae: I was blown away by stunning Caixinha plans to overhaul Celtic during Rangers talks

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Published on:

25 Mar 2017, 1:50 am

By Alex Stevens

Alex Rae has revealed he was blown away by Pedro Caixinha's ideas on how to revive Rangers and close the gap on Celtic.

Former Ibrox midfielder Rae became the fourth ex-Rangers player to be interviewed by Caixinha about a role on his coaching staff.

The 47-year-old former Dundee and St Mirren manager had face-to-face talks with the Portugese manager on Thursday.

It came 24 hours after new manager Caixinha reportedly met with Ibrox icons Barry Ferguson, Peter Lovenkrands and John Brown.

Rae was extremely impressed by Caixinha’s ideas to take the club forward following the gulf that has been established by Celtic as they close in on a sixth consecutive Scottish Premiership title.

“He has an idea on how to play the game," Rae told the Scottish Sun. "Very modern. He was really impressive, dominant in terms of what he wanted to put across, his ideas and how he sees the job going forward.

“I was really impressed with him. He looked as if he was really up for it.

"He’s obviously left a job in Qatar for substantial money to come to Rangers.

“He obviously sees it as an unbelievable opportunity and I think it’s fair too say he’s going to embrace this and go full guns to try and claw the back the gap on Celtic.”

The Portugese, 46, is looking to complete his backroom team with a former Rangers player who has a vast knowledge of Scottish football and a strong connection with the club.

Ferguson, 39, had been considered to be the frontrunner for the coaching post, with ex-winger Lovenkrands, 37, and 'Bomber' Brown, 55, a member of the nine-in-a-row Rangers side, also in the frame.

Celtic are 33 points ahead of Rangers in the Scottish Premiership and set to win the title immediately after the international break.

Caixinha's team are third in the table and eight points adrift of second-placed Aberdeen despite a 4-0 win in the new manager's opening game last weekend.

In other Rangers news, one of the club's midfielders has agreed the terms of a mammoth new deal.

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Alex Rae

Pedro Caixinha