Gordon Smith’s open letter to Dave King: Rangers fans need answers on Pedro Caixinha, not just EBTs

DEAR Dave,

THERE has been a lot of blame apportioned in the wake of Rangers’ loss to Progres Niederkorn.

Quite rightly, in my opinion.

So why haven’t you, as chairman, addressed what has to be the worst result in the club’s 145-year history?

Going out of Europe to Luxembourg’s fourth-best team – a bunch of part–timers, let’s not forget – was embarrassing for Rangers, and for Scottish football.

For the players and coaches involved in the 2-1 aggregate loss, it was, frankly, a humiliation.

The fans are demanding answers.

But rather than address the Europa League exit, you chose on Friday to release a statement around the loss of the so-called ‘Big Tax Case’.

Your stout defence of the club got many fans back onside, but it seemed to me a bit of a smokescreen for the more pressing matter of where Rangers are here and now on the pitch.

Last Tuesday night, a team chosen and given tactics by your manager, containing players that have cost millions to bring to Glasgow, failed spectacularly.

I’m sure you’ll have seen the photographs of Pedro Caixinha, standing in a bush and arguing with fans outside the stadium after the match.

That simply poured oil on troubled waters and I wonder if you think that is the way a Rangers manager should behave?

The media, both social and traditional, has been full of reaction as fans have angrily demanded answers.

The news the following day that HM Revenue and Customs had won their appeal added to the sense of your club being in crisis.

Sir David Murray – a predecessor of yours as chairman, but who severed all ties with the club six years ago – took his place in the firing line, alongside Pedro and new signings such as Dalcio, Daniel Candeias and Alfredo Morelos.

Do you agree with me that it was a good day for bad news?

There had been talk of the manager being sacked – a decision you would have to take – and of effectively starting the season again from fresh.

So far, though, that hasn’t happened.

I haven’t seen you, in your position as club chairman, take much in the way of flak.

But I’d warn you that situation will change, and change dramatically, should the manager fail to turn things round – and quickly.

I criticised Pedro’s tactics in my Sunday Post column in the wake of the 5-1 loss to Celtic at the end of April.

The fact it had been the Hoops’ biggest victory at Ibrox ever meant there was plenty of material to work with.

What was so hard to understand was how Pedro could have allowed it to happen so soon after watching his team go down 2-0 to Brendan Rodgers’ men in the Scottish Cup semi-final six days earlier.

Why the lessons of that defeat weren’t learned was hard to fathom.

For me, the way the Rangers side was laid out for the second game actually gave them less chance of success than they had in the cup tie.

Astonishing.

It allowed Celtic to play to their strengths and in the end the scoreline could have been even more emphatic than 5-1.

Yes, the opposition are a quality side, and their achievement in going through the domestic season undefeated was remarkable.

Nevertheless to lose to your rivals at home and in such a fashion was an embarrassment.

Still, you decided to stick by Pedro. But defeat against Progres Niederkorn was a second shocking defeat for him in little more than two months.

That being the case, why didn’t you sack him on Wednesday morning, which is what many fans were calling for?

You haven’t answered that question in public, and fans could soon end up delivering their criticism at your door.

I can see possible reasons for your inaction.

Perhaps the manager couldn’t go because you have invested so much in his appointment?

You and your Board have given him millions of pounds to spend which he has used to bring in nine new players.

That is far more than you gave Pedro’s predecessor, Mark Warburton, to work with.

He has been able to bring in his choice of assistants and given his head in terms of the environment under which they all work together.

If all that faith proves misplaced, fans are going to blame the men who made the appointment in the first place.

We all know the choice of Pedro wasn’t your decision, but that of the three-man recruitment panel – Stewart Robertson, Graeme Park and Andrew Dickson.

All boast strong reputations in business terms – but I am not entirely sure as to where they have football qualifications to make such an important decision.

In the modern game, we all know other factors come into play.

With a huge number of season tickets to be shifted, there is pressure to go for an appointment which will excite supporters and drive sales.

But if Pedro is a failure, the buck will stop at you.

Anyone who follows Scottish football would have been confident Alex McLeish, Tommy Wright or Derek McInnes could have come in and done a good job.

I believe that had any of that trio been in charge last Tuesday, Rangers would still be in Europe.

Pedro was very poor tactically – so much so, in fact, that he made the players look worse than they maybe are.

Believe me, this happens in the game. I saw it first hand on more than one occasion in my own playing career.

As chairman, it must alarm you there haven’t been any signs of progress under Pedro. So if the he is to be given time, it must be conditional.

If things have not seriously picked up by the time Rangers have played their first 11 league games – the first quarter of the campaign – then I would urge you to change your manager.

New signings will have had time to settle in. Not just the men I mentioned struggling in Luxembourg, but also the likes of Bruno Alves and Graham Dorrans.

Dorrans strikes me as an excellent buy for £1.3-million. At 30, he boasts experience of both English and international football.

Likewise, it is hard to imagine a player of Alves’ pedigree not making a positive contribution.

We know dramatic recoveries from European humiliation do happen.

Celtic lost 5-0 to Artmedia Bratislava in 2005 and went on to win the league title by 17 points under Gordon Strachan.

If something similar happens under Pedro, you can look forward to getting plenty of praise.

But if it goes the other way, fans’ anger on Tuesday night will be the tip of the iceberg.

Yours, 

Gordon