Michael Beale has earned Rangers’ trust, but the club should be careful over transfer deals
Michael Beale has been backed heavily by Rangers this summer, but questions are beginning to arise over the manager’s experience with building a squad, as shared by Keith Jackson in the Daily Record [page 43].
In the print edition of the newspaper [24 July], Jackson shared his concerns over Beale’s experience, as question marks remain over the Englishman’s decision-making and whether full trust should be given in a radical overhaul of the current playing squad.
Backing any manager is important. If you provide him with all of the tools he needs to succeed, there will be a higher chance of achieving the club’s goals – notably SPFL success. However, if you provide him with the tools and things go wrong, you’re stuck with a squad designed to suit one manager.
Beale deserves the trust of the fans and the club, but it is fair to raise questions when football is such a volatile business. Things can go south very quickly and discontent spreads like wildfire. Stacking a squad with players who are there to play for this specific manager could be dangerous should a change happen at any point.
Chairman John Bennett and Chief Executive James Bisgrove have backed Beale extensively so far, answering his every call and mapping out clear recruitment plans, working hard to make deals happen.
Ultimately, this should be seen as a positive. If they hadn’t placed this kind of trust in the Rangers boss, questions would be asked about why. It’s a bit of a damned if you do, damned if you don’t type situation, but in football, things are never certain.
When players such as Rabbi Matondo and Fashion Sakala have begun to perform well in pre-season, it calls into question whether they will be let go. If they are, the club will be prepared. If they aren’t, what is the plan?
A squad inflated with new signings on top of longer-serving members could leave the club with too many options (if that could ever be the case), so how is game time determined? Every member of the squad will want to play a part, while also being disappointed to be rotated. It’s a difficult situation.
The club should press ahead with their current plans and with backing the boss, but concern should remain with the different variables that will display themselves throughout the transfer window.
In other Rangers news, deals continue to progress for new signings with fees now set to be agreed.