Speaking to The Daily Record, a friend and former colleague of Pedro Caixinha, the hot favourite to become the new boss at Ibrox, has refuted the claim that the Rangers target once worked for Celtic as a scout.

What's the story?

It had previously been reported by The Scottish Sun that Caixinha headed up Celtic's scouting programme in Portugal but that appears to have not been the case at all.

That's according to his lifelong friend and former assistant manager Arlindo Morais, who was in fact the man employed by Celtic to track players in the country.

Speaking to The Daily Record, Morais said of the scouting role:

No, that was me. Pedro was offered the job but had already committed to a position in Saudi Arabia with Jose [Peseiro], so instead he recommended me. I worked for Celtic for two years, taking in games in Portugal and Spain, Madrid and Seville, but the club didn’t follow up on my recommendations.

No conflicts there then and no juicy angle for fans to rib each other about either.

Regardless, Pedro Caixinha appears to be still be quite a distance from actually taking on the role at Ibrox with reports this morning suggesting that any potential move had been delayed further due to compensation delays and negotiations with his current club in Qatar, Al-Gharafi.

It appears ever more unlikely that he'll be unveiled before Rangers travel to Celtic Park on Sunday, leaving U20s coach Graeme Murty with the uphill battle of trying to secure a result in the home of the in-form Scottish Champions.

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