Saikat Mandal

Tue 29 November 2022 17:40, UK

Simon Jordan has criticised Michael Beale on talkSPORT for his opportunistic behaviour in taking the Rangers managerial job.

Beale became the 18th manager at the Glasgow club after he left Queens Park Rangers to replace Giovanni van Bronckhorst at Ibrox.

Jim White interrupted in between, saying that Beale’s family could be a reason why he moved to Ibrox, but Jordan didn’t find the excuse convincing enough.

Beale rejected the opportunity to join Wolves, but he couldn’t turn down the lure of managing the Bears after serving the club as an assistant manager under Steven Gerrard previously.

Here’s the transcription of what happened on talkSPORT during the show on 29 November.

Jordan said: “Look, I don’t like this kind of behaviour. I don’t think he has earned his stripes as a manager. I think he has been there for five minutes and the guys that took the risk were QPR.

“They are the ones that said I tell you what you can break out the pack, you can stop being a number two and you can be our man. We will give you a gig and their reward for that is for him to be linked [with] two jobs, potentially be prepared to speak to both of them.

“Turned down one, come out with this wonderful soliloquy about how committed he was and then the moment something comes along and appeals to him, he’s off.

“I understand, I’m a commercial man. I’m a realist. I’m a pragmatist people, want to evolve their careers, and they have every right to move on.”

White replied: “They said it could be family reasons as well.”

Jordan continued: “And yes, I’m sure the same family reasons applied when he applied to those circumstances when he was given the opportunity to start this lucrative career of being a first-team manager that somebody had the vision. That somebody was QPR.”

Challenges

Rangers fans felt betrayed when Gerrard left the club to join Aston Villa to fulfil his ambitions, and probably QPR fans are also feeling the same.

Beale developed a special bond with Rangers during his previous stint and this is an opportunity he couldn’t pass it down.

Now that he has been appointed, there’s no point discussing what he could have done or whether it was ethically correct on his part.

There are challenges ahead of him, and it will be interesting to see how he tackles them.

First, he needs to develop a playing identity. Under Van Bronckhorst, the football being played (especially this season) was lacklustre and unimaginative, and as a consequence, the results dried up after some time.

Secondly, the squad needs a massive overhaul. Players who have passed their prime need to be replaced but Beale will need more than two or three transfer windows to rebuild the squad to his own taste. He needs to be properly backed in the market.

His immediate priority will be to sort out the contracts of several key first-team players. The likes of Ryan Kent, Alfredo Morelos and Ryan Jack could be free agents at the end of the season, and the club need to make a decision now, one way or the other.

The appointment of Beale is a gamble, as Jordan rightly pointed out that he has got little or negligible managerial experience. However, the club have taken a massive leap of faith in him, and let’s hope it works out well.

In other Rangers news, angry QPR fans edited Beale’s Wikipedia page on Saturday.