Michael Beale fancied for Rangers as Giovanni van Bronckhorst clings to job
Michael Beale is “fancied” to replace Giovanni van Bronckhorst and make a sensational return to Rangers, according to Alan Nixon.
The speculation around Steven Gerrard’s former assistant has increased hugely in recent weeks, after the current QPR boss made a surprise visit to Ibrox for the 4-1 win over Aberdeen on 29 October, and has since spoken to multiple media outlets about his former club.
But with the current manager clinging on with a 1-0 win over Hearts in midweek and looking to get through one last game against St Mirren before the World Cup break, Sun journalist Nixon has questioned how keen Beale is.
In response to a question on Twitter over who the Light Blues will go for if they decide to get rid of van Bronckhorst he said: “Beale fancied … but does he fancy it?”
Return?
If Beale is not interested then he would be able to quickly make that clear by ruling himself out and keeping away from Ibrox as the pressure mounted on the current manager.
He continues to speak to Sky Sports and BT Sport at just the time when many fans are calling for the Dutchman to be sacked which will inevitably lead to continued speculation.
Even if he isn’t angling for a Rangers return right now, he must know that his current course of action will do nothing to keep his name away from the job unless or until he is in charge in the Premier League.
He was riding high at the top of the English Championship only a few weeks ago, and looked a good bet to make it to the top flight in his own right, having been Gerrard’s assistant at Aston Villa last season.
But three defeats and a draw out of the last four games has seen QPR drop to sixth, and while that by no means rules them out of promotion contention he may just be considering making his next move sooner than he previous thought.
Beale is a smart man and surely knows that he is stoking the fires even if he is not on the face of things explicitly undermining Gio, and at times in recent interviews he has already sounded like a man who has just been appointed the new Ibrox boss.
How van Bronckhorst or the board and fans at Loftus Road feel about that is another matter, but there is fair amount of support behind the idea of the previous number two becoming the number one in Glasgow.
In other Rangers news, the club have suffered yet another key injury as the crisis this season goes from bad to worse.