sport news Is Michael Beale REALLY the right man for Rangers? trends now
Michael Beale's name is once again linked with a managerial vacancy, with the up-and-coming QPR boss understood to be the subject of an approach from Scottish giants Rangers.
Beale, 42, has fond memories of Ibrox, having helped the Gers to a long-awaited Scottish Premiership title while serving as an assistant to Steven Gerrard.
He rejected a move from Premier League side Wolves earlier this season, pledging his loyalty to QPR, but an approach from Rangers may be too tempting to refuse.
Sportsmail weighs up the arguments for and against a return to Ibrox for Michael Beale, with Brian Majoribanks in favour, while John McGarry is reluctant.
Michael Beale is a leading contender to return to Rangers as their first team manager
YES - BRIAN MAJORIBANKS
It began with a short kick by goalkeeper Allan McGregor to Connor Goldson. The ball was then played out to James Tavernier who scampered up the right before picking out Alfredo Morelos on the halfway line.
The Colombian turned it back to Ianis Hagi, who found Glen Kamara and, as play moved rapidly across to the left of the pitch, the ball went to Ryan Kent, Kamara again and then Borna Barisic.
A thrilling move ended with Barisic sending over a deep cross to the back post where his opposite full-back Tavernier was waiting to head home.
It took just 26 seconds of this wonderful eight-man passage of play for the ball to travel from the Rangers six-yard box to the back of the Galatasaray net in October 2020.
Beale (left) played a huge role in Steven Gerrard's success at Ibrox over three years
The stunning goal helped seal a 19th European qualifying match without defeat for the Ibrox club and secured them a £10million golden ticket into the Europa League group stages.
For any Rangers fans watching that clip back this week, it would provide an aching reminder of the kind of cutting edge football Michael Beale helped coach into a Rangers team — and could do so again if he succeeds Giovanni van Bronckhorst.
It could not be further from the turgid, tame play served up by the doomed Dutchman in the dog days of his reign in Govan.
Hiring Beale as a manager in his own right after just 21 league matches as a boss with Queens Park Rangers would be a risk, of course. All managerial appointments are a gamble.
But the 42-year-old Englishman’s influence on the style of play under Steven Gerrard was no secret, and it could help get the Ibrox club moving in the right direction again.
A serious and respected coach, he possesses tactical nous and, clearly, an outstanding rapport with his players.
Amongst those former Rangers stars who have praised his abilities, he has been hailed as a ‘genius’ by Jermain Defoe, ‘the brains’ behind the success under Gerrard by Kyle Lafferty, and ‘probably the best coach I’ve worked under’ by Andy Halliday.
He helped Rangers produce swashbuckling football that was crucial in dethroning Celtic
At Aston Villa, where he moved as an assistant with Gerrard from Ibrox, that theme continued.
‘It’s the first time in 14 to 15 years of my career that the assistant coach does all the talking,’ said Argentinian goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez.
‘He does all the training sessions, he takes all the important meetings. He knows so much about football, it’s just incredible. With Michael, we felt him and Stevie G are both the managers.’
Beale’s relationship with the Rangers squad would surely be more tested as a manager in his own right, but he is confident and eloquent and carries himself well.
He would also be a good fit in front of the cameras for a club whose media strategy appears to be finally opening up again.
Beale is also fully versed in everything he needs to know about the club from back to front
And he would be walking into a club environment that would be providing no surprises after his spell there under Gerrard from June 2018 to November 2021.
Fully versed in the intense demands at Rangers, he was infamously shown a red card in an Old Firm clash in December 2019 after accusing referee Kevin Clancy of ‘cheating’ during a 2-1 win for the Ibrox club at Parkhead.
‘It is a fantastic football city,’ Beale said recently.
‘A little bit crazy and a little bit intense at times. I loved it because I love the intensity and the pressure. I loved my time in Scotland and the one or two moments when I got hot-headed was me turning into one of you (local Glaswegian) guys. I was forgetting I come from Kent…’
Beale will doubtless be older and wiser for that spell at Ibrox.
He would also walk into a warm welcome from Rangers fans eternally grateful for his role in delivering title number 55 — stopping Celtic reaching an historic ten-in-a-row — while helping the club grow into a European force once more.
Jermaine Defoe described Beale as a tactical genius and he is highly regarded by players
Should he get the job, it will no doubt be mentioned that Rangers did not win a domestic cup during his time as No2 to Gerrard.
However, Beale will doubtless still be looking back and wondering how Celtic captured the 2019 League Cup through a disputed Christopher Jullien goal in a Hampden showdown utterly dominated by the Ibrox side.
Beale would later brand it ‘the most one-sided final, maybe in history’. After that match, Rangers would not lose in the next seven Old Firm matches.
The last thing Rangers need right now is to gamble on another Paul le Guen or Pedro Caixinha.
Beale would arrive with an encyclopedic knowledge of the Scottish and British game, and has good contacts within it.
A speedy appointment would give him some much-needed time on the grass with the squad before the season resumes with a home match against Hibs on December 15.
There will likely not be much money available in January, but Beale spent nothing on transfers in the summer and still managed to overhaul his QPR squad with loans and free signings.
His return would certainly provide a much-needed confidence boost for the Ibrox side
His team stormed to the top of the Championship table before results began to tail off in recent weeks with four losses and a draw. A team that finished 11th last season currently sits in seventh.
In October, Beale turned down the chance to speak to Wolves, but it’s believed he is keen for an Ibrox return.
If he can live up to his stellar coaching reputation he has the potential to provide Rangers with what they badly need; a prolific player-trading model.
However, that would require the club to cash in on stars while they are hot in a way that they did not do with Morelos when Lille wanted him for £16million or when Leeds
