St Johnstone manager Tommy Wright has laid into his Rangers counterpart Pedro Caixinha as “paranoid” and insisted he is “spreading fake news”.
The Rangers manager claimed at his media briefing yesterday (Wednesday) that his team was leaked to St Johnstone ahead of the two side’ last meeting in May.
Caixinha insisted he had plugged the dressing room leak and there was no chance of Wright getting advance notice of his starting XI when the two clubs go head to head in Perth on Friday night.
But Wright reacted strongly on Thursday morning as he hit back at the suggestion St Johnstone had knowledge of Rangers’ line-up.
“What he’s talking about in terms of us getting his team last season is just someone that’s paranoid,” said Wright, as quoted by the personal Twitter account of Scottish football journalist Alison Conroy.
“I didn’t get his team last season, we didn’t change our training regime, we didn’t sit about waiting for them to finish training to get the team. It just didn’t happen, so I now know what fake news means.”
Tommy Wright hits back at Pedro Caixinha’s suggestions St Johnstone had Rangers team last season… pic.twitter.com/lvuOGXjkDj
— Alison Conroy (@AlisonGConroy) October 12, 2017
Caixinha made a number of changes to his starting XI when Rangers won 2-1 at St Johnstone back in May.
He claimed yesterday that he doesn’t expect the Perth side to train after his side do tomorrow, in a clear suggestion that he is confident he has plugged the source of the leak.
“First of all I expect them not to train after we train tomorrow,” Caixinha said as quoted by STV’s website. “Why am I telling you that?
“Because I know last season, in the last match, we train at ten and they train at 12, knowing already our first XI.”
OPINION
Caixinha has waged a few wars since taking his place in the Ibrox dugout in March. Neil Lennon, Kenny Miller, Michael O’Halloran and now Tommy Wright are among those who he has staged a public battle with as he defends his territory and aims to narrow the gap on Celtic. Rangers fans will appreciate that he is standing up for what he believes in, but will wonder if his spiky nature and taste for slanging matches is ultimately self-defeating. They will want proof that Caixinha can make a difference on the pitch, rather than that he can exchange verbal blows with the great and the good of Scottish football.