Michael Beale at odds with Rangers board after transfer window with somebody telling ‘porkies’ amid sack pressure
There are “question marks” between Michael Beale and the Rangers board after both sides made contradicting statements over the club’s transfer spend, according to Alison McConnell.
The PLZ Soccer pundit said on The Football Show (8 September) that the Gers boss disputing the reported fees in the wake of the Old Firm defeat to Celtic on Sunday [Rangers Review, 3 September] amounted to “taking a pop” at the board.
And with Chris Jack coming out with an in-depth report from the club for Rangers Review (8 September) to suggest the fees were as expected McConnell sees it as evidence of friction between the manager and his bosses, while host Peter Martin agreed that “somebody’s telling porkies”.
McConnell said (31m 40s): “I thought it was a really interesting comment actually after the game on Sunday when Michael Beale referenced the finances, when he mentioned ‘it’s nowhere near this figure’, I thought that was very, very interesting.
“Because for me that’s kind of taking a pop at your board about what’s been done over the summer.”
Martin then referenced the Rangers Review report and said: “Somewhere along the line somebody’s telling porkies.”
McConnell replied: “And the very fact that the Rangers Review, a club partner, feels that they should be putting that out tells you that direction is coming from somewhere, that they’ve been asked to distribute this figures for clarity in the aftermath of what we’ve seen.
“So for me, I think that would point to a few question marks between Michael and the board.”
Something amiss
Poor results and indifferent performances to open the season have turned up the heat on everybody at Rangers and left Beale’s job under threat already.
He may have been looking to deflect some of the pressure in the wake of another Old Firm defeat on his record as his position was starting to feel less secure.
But for the club to apparently brief against him within a few days only weakens him further and looks for all the world like the hierarchy are at best warning him he is on notice, or at worst moving to get their side of the story out there for when he is removed.
Who is actually right shouldn’t matter at this stage if everybody is pulling in the same direction since the club should be displaying a united front to get through a difficult period, whatever the dissatisfaction may be behind the scenes.
But for Beale to publicly dispute the figures only to be quickly slapped down shows a divide of some sort, even if it is not yet clear quite how wide it is.
If results do improve immediately then there is plenty of scope for any current disagreements to be overcome and the plan to get back on track, but further struggles over the next few games and it is already looking ominous.
In other Rangers news, an exit update has emerged on a named candidate to replace Beale at Ibrox.