Official Rangers partner Heart and Hand slams preposterous Celtic controversy
Official Rangers partner Heart & Hand podcast have blasted the supposed controversy around Michael Beale’s Celtic comments as “so, so boring”.
The Gers boss was forced to respond in his Monday (19 December) press conference ahead of the Aberdeen game after accusations from Andy Walker that he had shown the Old Firm rivals disrespect in referring to them as “the other team”.
Beale rejected the suggestion out of hand, saying that he wanted to “cut that short” and “that’s not what I am”, while Heart & Hand have entirely dismissed the episode.
Posting on the show’s Twitter account in reaction to Jonny McFarlane of The Rangers Review’s own dim view of the situation, the message said: “It’s so, so boring. And to be honest, this one is entirely meta. By media, for media. No supporters gave a toss.”
Load of nothing
Clearly the Old Firm rivalry is alive and well because it takes somebody working overtime in search of a slight to find one in Beale saying he could only cut the gap at the top of the table if the other team drops points, an obvious statement of fact.
Even if it was a pointed and repeated habit of refusing to name Celtic it would hardly be the worst crime in the world, but in the context in which it came it was harmless.
If anything Walker was probably trying to get under Beale’s skin by suggesting he’d stepped out of line, and it appears he did so judging by the Ibrox boss’ forceful response, so congratulations to him for that.
The new manager’s first derby is only a couple of weeks away and hardly needs any extra pressure put on it, so it’s unlikely that this debate will make much of a dent in the build up.
Nobody is bothered about naming Celtic, just as Ange Postecoglou and company won’t care about saying Rangers, so it was no doubt just an early attempt from Walker to unsettle Beale.
But either way, if the former QPR boss succeeds in doing the job he was brought back for it will be relegated to a footnote over at Celtic Park.
The balance of power shifted pretty meekly away from Ibrox after Beale departed behind Steven Gerrard and wrestling it back is one of his main tasks now he has got the top job, starting on 2 January.
In other Rangers news, he has been given no chance of redressing the balance in a particularly strong claim on talkSPORT.