IT is the Mourinho masterclass, the course that offers insight and opportunity. It is inspired by one of Portugal’s most famous sons and one of football’s most successful managers and enigmatic characters. It is a blueprint that Pedro Caixinha knows well.

Each individual that embarks on the journey has a chance to write a unique story in the game. Caixinha is still telling his own tale, but he is helping others start a fresh chapter.

While managers close to home and further afield are using the first days of the international break to recharge the batteries or push late transfer deals over the line, the Rangers boss has returned to Portugal and to the classroom at the University of Lisbon.

It was during his Masters Degree in Sports Science that the 46-year-old met Antonio Veloso and the mutual benefits of their time together continue to this day.

Caixinha spent Tuesday working with up-and-coming coaches and students of the game as he gave a lecture – titled ‘From game analysis to on-field team organisation’ - and detailed his football philosophy and approach to training and matches.

The likes of Rick Parry, the former Liverpool chief executive and football consultant Damien Comolli are also speakers on the course, as is Rui Faria, the Manchester United assistant coach. It is Faria’s boss that is the ultimate inspiration, though.

“The course was designed with Jose Mourinho,” Veloso, the Scientific Coordinator of the Post-graduation in High Performance Football Coaching, told SportTimes. “Jose and I were colleagues at the faculty and we kept some contact during the years.

“At that time, we made the plan to have a graduation that was just directed at football.

“Pedro was a former student here and he did a Masters at the University of Lisbon, and was my student at that time.

“We have had a strong involvement with Pedro from the start on the course. He was one of the teachers that we planned to have linked to the course from the start and he was present when we made the public presentation with Jose almost three years ago.”

Caixinha’s career has taken him across the world as blows have been suffered and plaudits have been earned but his outlook on football was shaped some time ago.

It is a big ask for any Portuguese coach to emerge from Mourinho’s shadow but a generation can use their countryman as the example to follow whilst looking to make their own impression in the game.

Unable to personally attend the course last year, Caixinha invited students to work with him in Qatar as part of their internship. On this occasion, he had the time to travel to Lisbon to present a lecture and take to the field as scholars from every corner of the game were given an insight into his workings.

“The idea is to build up a strong link between coach education and an academic environment,” Veloso said.

“You have traditional National FA educations but this is a strong point in Portugal.

“It is not only the sports science people that go to university. The coaches themselves are coming from university and there is a more comprehensive approach to the game.

“There is a tradition in football that the sports scientists take care of physical preparation and the coaches take care of everything tactical. We think that everything is together.

“The coach takes more interest in the physical side, in injury prevention and coaches on the ground as well.

“There are more coaches coming through science and education because they have all the information on physiology, mechanics, psychology.

“That is one of the top reasons for starting the course. There are a lot of coaches from around the world interested in Portuguese methods.”

The focus of Caixinha’s lecture was game preparation and how he structures each week, each day and each session to get the best out of his players.

It is a methodology that combines physical fitness with tactical awareness as opponents are analysed and improvements are sought in fine detail.

Caixinha may have arrived from Al-Gharafa as a relative unknown, but his work with the likes of Sporting Lisbon and Santos Laguna won him many admirers.

“In Portugal, he has a very good reputation,” Veloso said. “A lot of people considered, when he was assistant coach, that he was fundamental to all the processes, especially the training process and organisation itself.

“He is known to be a very detailed and planned coach. He arrives early in the morning, he is a frantic worker but very organised and controlled.

“He uses a lot of technology that is available now for game analysis, for loading control and risk assessment for injuries. He is someone that has a very complete background.”

The theory – from physical conditioning to tactical approaches – has been gained over many years by Caixinha. It is at Ibrox where he now has to put it to good use.

A Europa League defeat to Progres Niederkorn and mixed start to the Premiership campaign has seen the Portuguese questioned and criticised. His mentality and desire can’t be faulted, though.

“When you meet him and talk with him you can feel his personality,” Veloso said. “He is very strong minded, very committed.

“Everybody is affected by criticism but he knows very well what he is doing. He has developed a very good link to the club and to their long-term purposes and objectives.

“His methods are probably not the ones that the players in Scotland are used to and there will be an adaptation period for the players. That could be one of the reasons for the start that he has had.

“Of course, the result in Europe was bad, definitely, but football is like it is and sometimes you can play better and still lose. That is a condition of the game itself.

“Nothing will affect Pedro at all. He has a lot of experience. I am absolutely sure that he will prevail.”

By the time Rangers return to action against Dundee next weekend, the debate around Caixinha’s future will have subsided once again, partly due to the win over Ross County and partly due to the shift of focus during the international break.

He still has doubters to win over and critics to silence at Ibrox. Caixinha is content off the field, now he must bring success on it.

“I was talking to Pedro the other day and he is committed to a long term project,” Veloso said.

“He mentioned that he was not known in Scotland but he was chosen and the people from Rangers hired not his name but his ideas. He presented his ideas, his structure, his approach and that is what the Rangers directors bought, let’s say.

“He believes in his methods and his processes but you can have all the details controlled and things can still not go in your direction.

“You need to stick to your beliefs and I am sure that will happen with Pedro. He has very strong beliefs, he is very skilful in all processes of the game and he is a highly loyal person, a very respectful person.

“Even if the start has not been good and he has had some criticism, he is happy at Rangers.

“He loves the club, he loves the values and the people. He loves the history, he has studied the details and he is committed to Rangers.”