Thursday 3 August 2017 15:13, UK
Rangers manager Pedro Caixinha has repeated his claim he is managing the best squad in Scotland - and says nothing will change his mind.
Caixinha left himself open to ridicule back in March when he declared his belief that he had inherited the strongest group of players in the country.
Those words returned to haunt the Portuguese coach as Rangers finished third in the Scottish Premiership, 39 points behind Champions Celtic.
And despite last month's humiliating defeat to Progress Niederkorn of Luxembourg in their Europa League qualifier, Caixinha is standing by his comments.
"I keep my word," said Caixinha. "I always think that when I'm working at a club my players are the best, my squad is the best and my club is the best.
"I need to represent it like that and I need to spread that feeling from bottom to top and top to bottom. If I don't think like that representing Rangers today then I'm a guy just sitting in my chair letting time pass me by."
Since that Europa League defeat though Rangers have drawn with Marseille and beaten Watford and Sheffield Wednesday - which the manager hopes bodes well for Sunday's league opener against Motherwell.
"This is the best moment ever since I arrived. That shows the improvement and how pleased I am with the boys," he said.
"I know how massive and deep this club is. We know what it means to represent Rangers. Winning is the only option.
"It was a long hangover [after the European defeat] but it was a tremendous effort to look forward. The words we said to the players were very easy - 'We're all disappointed about what happened but you cannot change the course of the past. You can change the course of the future, though, and that's what we need to do'."
