Michael Beale reads the room over Rangers job safety after what he told Ally McCoist – Hugh Keevins
Hugh Keevins believes that Michael Beale’s sense of self-awareness can be the catalyst for short-term success over Celtic.
Beale revealed some of his inner thinking in a talkSport conversation with Ally McCoist in midweek, as picked up by Keevins.
Rangers face a tough test against Aberdeen at Pittodrie today, ahead of two defining clashes with Celtic, next week in the Scottish Cup semi-final at Hampden and then in the last Premiership meeting of the season, at Ibrox.
Given how the season has unfolded, retaining the Scottish Cup is essential for the Gers. The boss and everyone else knows this, the need to land a blow on Celtic is of paramount importance.
“I was listening to the manager chat with Ally McCoist on the radio on Wednesday morning when he said something that has led me to that conclusion,” stated Keevins in his Sunday Mail article, [page 63, 23 April].
“Beale was referencing his work in assembling a new cast of players and introduced a clause in one sentence that said, Next season, hopefully under myself.
“It was that kind of sharp intake of breath moment that prompts the need for self-interpretation.
“My take on it was that the man in charge at Ibrox has, in the midst of a season strewn with managerial casualties, read the room and concluded his job isn’t sacrosanct or immune from review by his employers just because of who and where he is.
“He knows he needs to determine his own future. Starting today.”
Time to deliver
It is a fair assessment of the situation but the upcoming period isn’t expected to be a defining one in terms of the entire reign of the former QPR head coach, in Glasgow. Barring a wayward total collapse between now and the end of the campaign, he will start his first full season over the summer.
Then he really will be judged.
The supporters are getting restless and rightly, expect Beale’s team to start delivering. In the here and now, that means getting the better of Ange Postecoglou’s side to retain the Scottish Cup. A semi-final victory will almost certainly mean the final is a formality, against Falkirk or Inverness. Such are the margins in Scotland.
In a few weeks’ time, the Parkhead team come across the city for the final meeting between the clubs, this season. If Rangers don’t win at Hampden next Sunday, the pressure on that fixture will be enormous even though it will have no bearing on the current campaign.
Quite simply, Beale can’t afford to go a fourth and fifth Old Firm without gaining the upper hand and he doesn’t need much self-awareness to realise that.
In other Rangers news, the club has been tipped to sign England international with 45 Premier League appearances.