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Ally McCoist hits back at Simon Jordan live on talkSPORT on Rangers-Beale, he'll regret it
Ally McCoist has leaped to the defence of Michael Beale live on talkSPORT after Simon Jordan hit out at him for taking the Rangers job.
Beale signed a three-and-a-half year deal at Ibrox on Monday (28 November) to replace Giovanni van Bronckhorst just a month after turning down the Wolves job to stay at QPR, having cited “loyalty” as one of the reasons for doing so.
But when asked about Jordan’s comments, where he called Beale a “Johnny-come-lately“, Mccoist responded while appearing on the talkSPORT breakfast show (29 November, 8:38am)
“I think it’s probably a little bit harsh,” he said.
“I hear where Simon is coming from in terms of, I think he’s indicating that he’s perhaps not too happy with one or two things Michael has said regarding staying at his job at QPR.
“He was offered the Wolves job and he probably said things that he now looks back on and will regret saying.
“With the greatest of respect, that’s what happens. There was an element of the same thing when Steven [Gerrard] left for Aston Villa. Steven won the title, massive title for Rangers and there was always a lot of interest from clubs down south and he was asked if he was interested or happy at Rangers.
“He said he was happy at Rangers and then within a week he was away to Villa. But these things happen. These things happen, I get it. Totally.
“I think that’s an indication that’s what Simon is getting at with Michael Beale. He’ll regret saying that.
“The job, I thought they might have gone for more experience Woodsy, I really did. I thought they might have gone for someone like Sean Dyche or someone like that.
“But obviously Michael’s coaching of the players under Steven’s managership has gone a long way. The board have obviously thought that he knows the players well, I get that also.
“There’s an element of.. he’s got to be judged against Celtic. That’s the bottom line.
“The sacking of Giovanni van Bronckhorst will tell you one thing. That Rangers and Celtic managers are only judged against each other, because his record apart from results against Celtic has been alright.
“I know that better than anybody. I know that better than most.
“So we’re now at the stage where Michael Beale has to get the respect and the support of every Rangers fan. That goes without saying.
“He came up to see a game and the timing was poor. Really poor. Because Van Bronckhorst was under pressure and he came up to the game.
“I accept his explanation for it, that it was a trip that had been organised for a while, however it didn’t look good. To people within the game that didn’t look good at all.
“But I go back to what I was saying before. The decision has been made and we all have to get behind Michael Beale now, and we will.”
Support
This promise is being massively overblown by football fans who are obsessed by the idea of romanticism and loyalty and football when it doesn’t really exist.
Had QPR backed Beale after a bad run of form and said they were giving him their full confidence and then sacked him, nobody would be blasting the loyalty of the club.
Ultimately Beale did what was best for him and his family on both occasions, with reports that his family struggled to settle in the Midlands when he was at Villa, and he was the man at QPR at the time.
But Rangers are a special football club and his dream job, and there is no guarantee that the job would have ever come around again so he would have been a fool to turn it down because he gave an interview before it was an option.
People say things all the time and people change their minds all the time. Beale is one of us now and we have to back him to the hilt if we want our club to get back to the top, so that’s exactly what we’ll do.
In other Rangers news, the club must sell to buy in January as Douglas Park speaks out