The biggest fallout from Sunday by far has come from the post-match interview with Pedro Caixinha on BT Sport. More specifically, the attempt by Chris Sutton to embarrass Caixinha on air.
There’s every chance you’ve seen the incident already. It’s easily found online. Despite a condescending tone and obvious badgering by Sutton, Caixinha was able to keep the focus on Rangers and be firm in his belief. Whilst the “I don’t care about Celtic” statement wasn’t intended to mean as it’s been perceived, it was a good answer to the line of questioning. It will almost become a rallying call for many fans, although there’s a real hint of irony behind that. In many ways, the interview was lauded more than the performance.
In this respect, I think Caixinha has a lot to be praised for. He’s faced more criticism than any Rangers manager I can remember from the media in Scotland. Most of that seems to be born from a place of ignorance and incentive. It’s fashionable to make the foreigner sound crazy. There’s certainly an approach to the coverage which is inherently negative. Due to some poor performances, he’s faced criticism from many fans as well. Whilst that has some justification, the attempts by our media to discredit the manager are pretty shameful. Caixinha has faced up to all of that, never hidden behind stock answers or pre-prepared statements, and been single-minded in his desire to improve our team.
Those 50-odd seconds on Sunday were a real microcosm of all of this. A deliberate misinterpretation of Pedro’s words. Arrogance from someone who considers himself more knowledgeable with no evidence to back that up. The little smirk from other panelists who were desperate for more from the crazy foreigner. At clubs all over the world, we’ve seen managers walk out of interviews for far less.
I don’t consider the Caixinha response as putting Sutton in his place. There’s no way to do that to someone as arrogant as he is. I found it to be more evidence of the determination of our manager to prove people wrong. If our players can match that more often than not, we’ll do pretty well.
I think the biggest question to ask is just why the approach towards Caixinha is so negative overall. This is someone who brings a style of coaching not really seen yet in Scotland with him. He’s managed in varying continents and is well respected worldwide. Even if he doesn’t end up doing well at Rangers, he has loads to offer the Scottish game at a time when it may just be at its lowest. Why is there a desire to discredit him at every turn? How can anyone involved in football in this country believe that our approach or knowledge is superior to anyone else? Pedro Caixinha is a smart, honest man who would be great to talk to about football. Given a chance to speak to him, I’d be excited about what I could learn.
If the Sutton incident was somewhat isolated, I’d be happy to say the above is an overreaction. The fact is though, this has been the sort of dialogue from many pretty much since Pedro arrived. There’s an opportunity to learn which is being squandered in favour of pandering to idiocy. As is too often the case now, Scottish football is allowing ignorance and hatred to be the story.