I WAS impressed with Pedro Caixinha’s introductory press conference the other day. Of course it is what he does rather than what he says that will really matter, but I thought he came across well as he set out what he hopes to achieve as Rangers’ new manager.

Some of the lines about the club’s history and background had obviously been whispered in his ear beforehand, while chat about winning European trophies seemed wildly ambitious. But, as first impressions go, he came across really well.

He had a real presence, he spoke with self-belief, he came across as cool as a cucumber – he doesn’t seem like the kind of person that will get flustered easily – and he looked passionate. All those things go in his favour and should serve him well. Ultimately, though, what every Rangers fan wants from their manager is for the team to be competitive, to win trophies and be able to beat Celtic. These are the things that Caixinha will be judged on.

Read more: Barry Ferguson in the running to become a Rangers coach and will meet Pedro Caixinha next week

Rightly or not, his suitability or not for the job will be based on how he does in the derbies. The first opportunity to show that comes around next month in the Scottish Cup semi-final and if he could win that then go on to lift the trophy then he would be off to a flier. But there’s a long way to go before he can start contemplating that possibility.

He said in his press conference that he felt he had the best squad in Scottish football. I would have to disagree with that. I don’t think there is a single Rangers player that would get into the Celtic starting line-up. So one of the first things he’s going to have to do – alongside a new director of football, whenever they are appointed – is to start a clear-out in the summer.

He’s going to be judged on his recruitment as it will need to be better than Mark Warburton’s. If you look at last weekend’s Old Firm game, Lee Hodson and Clint Hill were the only summer signings to start for Rangers. And when you look at how many players Warburton signed back then, that shows that recruitment has been beyond bad.

Caixinha would also be well within his rights to ask where all the promising young players are. There seem to be none knocking on the first-team door which is fairly shocking at a club with the best training facility in the country.

Read more: Barry Ferguson in the running to become a Rangers coach and will meet Pedro Caixinha next week

Barrie McKay is the last young player to have made the breakthrough and gone on to establish himself, and that lack of young talent does not reflect well on the club or on the last manager. All season long people have been complaining about the centre half position and yet apparently there isn’t a youth prospect ready to step up and fill that void.

People are talking about bringing in a load of new players in the summer to try to compete with Celtic but Rangers also have to look at improving things in-house if they are going to put things right for the long-term. Caixinha, you would imagine, would want some input into that as well.

Personally, I would have appointed the director of football before the manager as you would expect a sporting director have an input on the appointment of any head coach.

You would have thought Rangers would have wanted to choose a manager who fits in with the director of football’s overall philosophy. Now it’s going to be the other way around. Whatever Caixinha’s strategy is, the director of football is now going to have to work around that. That seems a little bit backwards. But they have to make that relationship work.

Caixinha made a few bold statements in his opening address and it’s good to be ambitious. But he has to be careful, too, as they aren’t going to be winning European trophies any time soon. They won’t even be winning the league title any time soon, unless by some miracle Dave King coughs up £15m to spend this summer.

Read more: Barry Ferguson in the running to become a Rangers coach and will meet Pedro Caixinha next week

I think the purse strings are a lot tighter than that so the manager’s recruitment has to be spot on. And he needs to be setting targets that are realistic and achievable in the mid- to long-term. In the short-term he’ll hope he can close the gap to Aberdeen in second which, despite all the plaudits Rangers got for their performance at Celtic Park, actually grew wider last weekend. And then there’s that semi-final that looms large in Rangers’ season.

People have described Caixinha’s appointment as a risk but we will only discover that with the passage of time. Nobody really knows what he is capable of. Tomorrow we will see his thoughts put into action for the first time and it will be interesting to see what team he picks, how he sets them out, what formation he deploys and the tactics he uses.

He is up against a Hamilton side who have conceded 10 goals from their last two games, scored once in their last five, and who haven’t won a league game on the road all season. They are scrapping for their lives at the bottom and won’t want to give Inverness below them in the table any further encouragement. But it is Caixinha most eyes will be on at Ibrox tomorrow.