THEY do say hope conquers fear. Rangers fans will indeed be hoping that’s the case if Charlie Miller is anything to go by.

Like many associated with the Ibrox club, the former nine-in-a-row midfielder was left more than a bit surprised when Pedro Caixinha’s name was firstly linked with the Rangers head coach’s job before eventually sealing a three-year deal. A debut 4-0 triumph over Hamilton Accies will no doubt go a little bit of the way towards allaying the curiosity surrounding the Portuguese and his appointment.

Little over a week on from that victory at Ibrox, Miller’s assessment of where the 46-year-old can take Rangers, at least in the short term as they pursue second place in the Premiership, remains cloudy at best. During a short interview which lasted all of six minutes, the words ‘hope’ and ‘hopefully’ were uttered 14 times by Miller when discussing the new Rangers manager.

As the good lady often says, it’s not what you say but how you say it.

Despite the ambiguity, what is clear to the 41-year-old is that as much as Caixinha may have received an initial bounce against the Martin Canning’s low-flying Accies, aspirations of finishing second should be dropped in favour of building for next season.

“No disrespect to him, but I hadn’t heard of him,” said Miller of the man brought in from Al Gharafa just seconds before his first hopefully. “He started well and he has spoken well. It was a good result against Hamilton. Good luck to him and hopefully he can get the team back to where we belong.

“I don’t think they will get second now. Aberdeen have gone 11 games unbeaten at home and they don’t look like they will drop many points.

“It was a surprise appointment for everybody. Is it the right one? We will have to wait and see. I hope not and I hope he is the right one and does well. He has got a transfer window to get some players in so let’s see who he lets go and who he brings in. Hopefully we can build for next season.

They have went left field, definitely. But I hope that he does really well and can get Rangers back where they belong and that is up at the top of the table and winning leagues and cups. Let’s hope that can happen. We have got a big semi-final to come and that will take care of itself. Hopefully Pedro can get us a result.

“He seemed to make an impact in the Hamilton game and hopefully that continues. Sometimes when a new manager comes in the players get a lift. It is a fresh start so hopefully he can get the best out of everyone.”

Given the inconsistent nature of their performances so far, it’s not quite clear even at this stage in proceedings just what the best from this Rangers team will quite deliver.

Miller was critical of some of the signings over the Mark Warburton era and to be honest it would be hard to argue. Joey Barton, Philippe Senderos, Matt Crooks and Joe Garner to name but a few. It is a team that at least has looked functional in recent weeks in the draw against Celtic and the two wins over Hamilton, but the jury is surely still out on how many of the current crop will fit into Caxinha’s grand plan as looks to build a squad in his vision.

“Financially Celtic are obviously miles ahead and I think there is still a bit of a gap. But hopefully Pedro can come in and close it. We have got the semi-final that we obviously want to win,” added Miller ahead of next month’s meeting with Celtic.

“They were better last year but we were down a league. They are not all bad players, definitely not. They can play, some of them, and it is just a shame how the season has went for some of the boys. There have been some poor signings as well.”

Prior to Caixinha’s earlier this month, Miller spoke about his desire to see former team-mate Derek McInnes handed the Rangers job for his work at Aberdeen. The fact he has the Pittodrie club eight points clear of Rangers with a vastly smaller budget makes it surprising he wasn’t even spoken to by the Ibrox board during his selection process.

While Miller is content to back the man who did get the job, he still is at a loss to explain why such a top candidate wasn’t even considered.

“I don’t know why they didn’t,” he said. “He has done great. His budget is not as big as Rangers’ but he has a strong squad and he has done well with his budget. Obviously Celtic are miles ahead in the league but he has done a good job.

“Derek was never spoken to, was he? He won’t worry about that because he was never a choice by the look of things. It looks as if they had one or two candidates and they have got who they wanted

“If he keeps on doing well then people will look at him. He can only take Aberdeen so far financially but he has done a great job. I only watch out for Aberdeen because of Derek. I can’t say yes or no if Rangers will regret it. I just wish Pedro all the best. He is the new Rangers manager and we all want the best for the club. He is the man that has got the job so good luck to him.”