Ryan Jack insists Rangers can’t afford to slip up but Pedro Caixinha doesn’t fear being sacked

PEDRO CAIXINHA isn’t contemplating losing his job as Rangers manager.

The under-pressure Portuguese boss has, so far this season, only recorded one victory in the Premiership ahead of today’s trip to face Ross County.

Last season the Light Blues failed to record a victory against the Staggies in three matches.

Another draw today would inevitably lead to further speculation about Caixinha’s long-term future at the club.

However, the 46-year-old is adamant there has been no indication from the boardroom that he could lose his job.

He said: “At this club we don’t have those sort of meetings.

“We have to keep the club moving and we’re working together.

“They have their job to do and I have mine, which is specific to football.

“I love my job and I love my work. I’m addicted to this.

“I’m working at a fantastic football club and I have a great squad of players. I’m happy here.

“I don’t talk about having support from the board. I never think like that. If I do, I won’t take the right decisions.

“I have the character to do my job and take the club in the right direction.

“They’re doing their job. Mine is about delivering a strong, competitive football team to try to win games.

“If we win or not, decisions will be taken, but I’m only trying to win football matches.”

Caixinha says pressure is not something new to him.

He recalled: “It happened to me at Leiria and Nacional in Portugal. It happened to me in Mexico.  It happened to me in Qatar. It happens to me here.

“It became personal in Mexico.

“That’s one of the things managers need to know how to deal with. You just need to be focused.

“This isn’t about 70% of people being against me and the rest thinking I’m doing the job right.

“Even if I am doing the job right, we’ll have people who are divided. So I don’t care about it.

“I just focus on the job and doing the job well.

“I love living here. My family are now here and my kids are at school.

“So we’ve adapted and I have a normal life. As long as my family are here, I’ll have the support I need.”

Addressing how fans might feel if Rangers lose again before facing Celtic next month, Caixinha once again chose to use a phrase involving a caravan.

He said: “I totally understand their passion and I understand that second place is not good enough.

“But when you have five years down the leagues, it takes time.

“Knowing that the caravan is moving also creates some disturbances along the way.

“When you are doing that, you know that the caravan is really moving.”

Rangers’ midfielder Ryan Jack believes it’s vital that Rangers don’t falter again.

He said: “We’re behind already and there’s going to be no more room for error or slip-ups.

“There’s no getting away from it – to pick up one point from the last two home games has not been great.

“The only answer to it is to work as hard as we can in training and stick together as a group of players and a staff.

“I’m sure we’ll get through it.

“The circumstances maybe haven’t helped us. But the spirit and the quality I have seen gives me hope we can turn it around.”

Jack knows all about the rough and tumble of Scotland’s top flight from his seven years in the Aberdeen first team.

Some of Rangers’ foreign imports, he reveals, have been a little surprised by the intensity of the Premiership.

He went on: “It is different. There is no doubt about that.

“After the Motherwell game, Bruno Alves and Fabio Cardoso, the centre-halves, said they had never seen so many long balls.

“They had to challenge for so many headers and do so much running.

“It isn’t the possession game they are used to.

“They have been trying to adapt to a lot of long balls and teams trying to put us under pressure. It’s what comes from playing at such a big team.

“They have adapted quite well, and we have been working on the intensity and having to defend long balls coming during training.”

Ross County will put that training to the test in Dingwall this afternoon.