REFUSING to speak publicly about internal disciplinary matters involving his players was a policy which certainly served Sir Alex Ferguson well during his lengthy and trophy-laden spells in charge of both Aberdeen and Manchester United.
So Pedro Caixinha’s unwillingness to talk about what, if any, punishment was dished out to Michael O’Halloran, the winger who failed to report for an under-20 match against Hearts in Stirling on Monday, at Auchenhowie yesterday was hardly unprecedented.
Staying tight-lipped on an incident which has made back page headlines in the Scottish newspapers this week and which has cast further doubt on the future of a player who has often struggled since arriving in a £500,000 transfer from St. Johnstone last year, may have deprived reporters of a story.
Yet, it was a further indication that the hitherto unknown but increasingly impressive Caixinha - who had the opportunity to observe Ferguson at work at Carrington when he was setting out on his coaching career thanks to his association with the former United assistant Carlos Queiroz - is capable of coping with the many demands of his new role.
"It's something that happens with our family,” the Portuguese said. “When I have some problems with my own kids in my family I am not going to go public with them. If we have some problems inside, like all teams normally have, we solve it inside. Everything stays inside.
"Sometimes it happens. I have my own rules in my family. My kids, for example, know what I allow and they know what I don't allow. When these sort of things happen I need to get involved as a father. I'm never that strong with my kids. I just want them to learn.
“I look upon my players as my sons and I am the father who has to take decisions. But as I told you, they stay at home. Everything stays at home. These things stay at home and if I tell you I am breaking that.The only thing I can tell you is that he (O’Halloran) is not part of the next squad.”
Caixinha is currently assessing the squad he inherited from his predecessor Mark Warburton when he took over last month and will make decisions imminently on which players he wants to hold onto, which players he will release and which players he will try to move on.
The 46-year-old stressed that he will, in another sign that he possesses the necessary diplomacy to flourish at Rangers, inform them individually when he arrives at his conclusions. “I’m still assessing our youth system, Scottish players and international players,” he said. "I will tell them one by one. They are human. They have families.
“When I was working as an assistant coach, I thought the manager wasn’t speaking to the players on a one-by-one situation when the hard decisions were coming. And I thought to myself when I am a manager I will make it in a one-by-one situation. The players need to hear it from me.
“When I had my first job as a manager at Leiria, we had a lot of players on trial and I had to make a lot of decisions. Those were my first decisions as a manager and I took them on a one-by-one basis. The players who aren’t kept on will know from me. That’s what really matters and they will be told at the right time and in the right place.”
Caixinha, whose side take on Partick Thistle at Ibrox on Saturday in their final Ladbrokes Premiership game before the top six split, is also looking at which players he can sign having been told he will receive funds to strengthen his squad in the close season.
He dismissed reports linking him with a move for his countryman Paulinho, the Gil Vicente winger, and stressed that he would not limit his search for reinforcements to one country or even one continent.
“I think football is worldwide,” he said. “When I worked in Mexico they were a little wary of foreigners because it was about their culture. But, for me, in football you don’t have ages, you don’t have ID, you don’t have a name and you don’t have a nationality.
“You only have players who either fit or don’t fit into a massive club like Rangers. If I found Scottish players who can do this I would definitely go for them. But this is not a question of nationality.”
The emphatic victory over second-placed Aberdeen at Pittodrie last Sunday was the best result of Caixinha’s brief reign and increased their hopes of qualifying for Europe next season. Caixinha, though, has urged his charges to forget about the win and focus on their encounter with Thistle.
“You cannot be judged by one match,” he said. “This is our challenge now. We know that we had a good game and an important result, but it means nothing now. It belongs to the past.”
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