Pedro Caixinha reveals Rangers 'descent to hell' aftermath as Celtic 'obsession' ran through nightmare spell

The Portuguese gaffer was appointed in March 2017 but managed until October in the job at Ibrox before being sacked.

Pedro Caixinha admits it was only after Rangers 'descent to hell' that he realised the task at hand in Glasgow.

The Portuguese gaffer was the man tasked with rebuilding the Light Blues after they returned to the top flight in 2016 under Mark Warburton, but the Ibrox hierarchy instead turned to the ex-Santos Laguna man to take the side forward in 2017. His disastrous spell which included heavy defeats to rivals Celtic, who won the Treble under Brendan Rodgers, ended after seven months in charge with the Gers sitting in fourth place and out of the League Cup.

Rangers then turned to Graeme Murty after the now 52-year-old's departure, as Caixinha went on to manage Cruz Azul and most recently Red Bull Bragantino in Brazil. And the former Ibrox gaffer was hit with a tricky question in an interview when quizzed if his Rangers stint was the 'worst' of his career after the highs of success in Mexico.

He reckons it was a tough set of circumstances to overcome and that the Parkhead rivals had built a 'hegemony' after winning trophies repeatedly, something that he believes left his side a 'far cry' away from the Hoops.

He told A Bola: “In studies, I completed two levels of the coaching course there and I loved how they welcomed me, the contents, how much I learned. At work, however, I arrived with Rangers back in the first division after that descent to hell in the last division, a far cry from Celtic, which built a national hegemony and played in the Champions League every year.

“Rangers’ obsession was to avoid the nine in a row, that is, for Celtic to be champions nine times in a row, a feat only for Rangers, but our fight was still like Aberdeen, like Hearts, it was step by step until we reached Celtic’s level. We even started well but then bad results came up and mistrust was born. It was a shame, it’s a huge club with 50,000 fans at Ibrox every game."

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