Pardew is reportedly in the frame to replace Caixinha at Rangers – but the 56-year-old has not been subtle about his feelings towards Scottish football.
When Pedro Caixinha likened himself to none other than Satan during his official unveiling as Rangers’ new manager back in March, the Glasgow giants probably knew that they were in for a rather bumpy ride.
And so it proved. The seven months that followed will be remembered less for quality football and dramatic wins and more for unseemly, behind-the-scenes rows, frankly ridiculous soundbites and an often childish approach to man-management that had Rangers supporters harking back to the dark days of Paul Le Guen.
Rangers, then, may be hoping for calmer waters in the months ahead with the board searching for a safe pair of hands to take the club forward after Caixinha was sacked on Thursday.
Alan Pardew, however, is hardly a wallflower. The Mail report that there was been discussions between Rangers and Pardew’s representative with the Ibrox club wanting to revert back to British after the failed Caixinha experiment.
If the 56-year-old is appointed to one of Britain’s biggest jobs, however, he will be hoping his new supporters overlook some rather distasteful remarks made about Scottish football from his time in charge of Newcastle.
“I think he’s coming back to a completely different level of football, I’ll tell you that now,” the Daily Record report Pardew as saying in 2012 after Magpies goalkeeper Fraser Forster returned from a year on loan at Celtic.
“We have watched that division and watched him all year. We’ve been disappointed with the quality of the games, other than the occasional Rangers versus Celtic game, and even some of those have been poor.”
While there is no doubting the gulf in quality between the respective top flights of England and Scotland, Pardew’s criticisms don’t exactly suggest that he would be an immediate fans favourite at Ibrox.
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