Michael Beale set to get Rangers wish with new Ibrox appointment expected – Sky Sports’ Dharmesh Sheth
Michael Beale looks set to get to be given what he wants for his arrival as Rangers boss with Damian Matthew now “expected to join up”, Dharmesh Sheth reports.
The former QPR boss is due to be announced as Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s replacement at Ibrox on Monday (28 November) with an agreement reached over the weekend, and Neil Banfield and Harry Watling are already expected to follow him according to Sheth.
Sun journalist Alan Nixon had reported on Patreon on Sunday (27 November) that Beale also wanted to bring his friend and colleague Matthew with him to Ibrox, and it appears he will be successful.
Sky Sports reporter Sheth wrote on Twitter late Monday morning (28 November): “Damian Matthew expected to join up with Beale at Rangers too.”
David Ornstein of the The Athletic reported late on Sunday night that Beale was now in Glasgow, and the squad has arrived back at Auchenhowie to resume training after some time off for the World Cup break, so the pieces are now coming together at the club.
Joiners
Rangers went into the month out of action for the international tournament in Qatar in all sorts of disarray, but major changes have now taken place.
Beale has to be seen as a risk given his lack of experience and concerns about the recent form of his team at Loftus Road.
But he has history at Ibrox and should know how to get the best out of most of these players on the training ground, given his key role in that capacity under Steven Gerrard.
With the players now back in the building that will be the first place he can start to implement change, and the friendly against Bayer Leverkusen in two weeks’ time will be the earliest opportunity to see how well it has worked.
The next Old Firm derby is on 2 January, and he needs to make sure he has won all four games heading into that with a view to record a first league victory over Celtic since he left with Gerrard.
There is a long way to go, but the club appear to be giving Beale the coaching staff he wants so he will need to bring about a major tactical and psychological improvement in the time off to make sure the form has improved sufficiently from the dying days of the Van Bronckhorst era.
In other Rangers news, a power struggle among senior figures at Ibrox suggests not everyone is 100% in favour of Beale to be the man in charge.