Michael Beale will ‘probably lose his job’ at Rangers if events head one way now, as ‘unbearable’ noise mooted
Michael Beale will “probably lose his job” if Rangers drop further behind Celtic in the SPFL although he now has a “clear run” up to the next Old Firm game, according to Tam McManus.
The BBC pundit said on The Football Show for PLZ Soccer (8 September) that he expects the Light Blues to “get better” after their rough start to the season given the chance to “build some confidence” with winnable games domestically and in Europe before next meeting their rivals at the end of the year.
Host Peter Martin had suggested that the “noise” around the Gers boss would become “unbearable” if he drops any more points in the league, and McManus agrees that without an improvement in results he will be struggling to cling on.
Martin suggested (35m 25s): “My own opinion on it is if he loses or draws another domestic game I think the clamour will be too much for him.
“I don’t think, at this moment, I see signs of them having a great European run, I’m there to be proved wrong. But I think the league domestically, Rangers fans, the noise will become unbearable if he starts dropping points to other clubs, and I think they look more than capable of doing that.”
McManus replied: “I think Aberdeen, Hibs, Hearts are capable of taking points of them, we’ve seen Kilmarnock already this season giving the Old Firm a bloody nose.
“He’s got time now. I think the group is okay in terms of Europe, I don’t think there’s teams in there they’re going to be massively frightened of getting a tanking [off], I think they’ll be competitive in every game.
“So I think he’s got a chance there to build some confidence and December 30th for the next Old Firm game he’s got a clear run to pick up points at home domestically and keep the pressure on Celtic.
“But you’re right, if he drops points, if he goes seven, eight, 10 points behind Celtic then he’s going to be under severe pressure and he’ll probably lose his job.
“But I think Rangers will get better [and] I think Celtic will get better. I can see Rangers’ players settling in and getting better to be honest.”
Simple
Sometimes football is pretty straight forward and in this case it looks like a clear cut situation of Beale staying in his job as long as he starts winning, or likely being removed if he doesn’t.
On the evidence of the season so far the latter probably looks more likely at this stage, but last term he largely had the beating of the rest of the clubs in Scotland.
Having overhauled the squad this summer, and struggled to hit on the right formula to get all the new arrivals firing, that has already not proven the case after defeat in the opener to Kilmarnock, so he is undoubtedly under pressure.
And there is no way for him to dress up his record in the biggest games of his tenure so far as acceptable, so improvements are a must.
Bringing together so many new players is a tough job so it looks that he is going to at least get an immediate opportunity to respond to the back-to-back losses at PSV Eindhoven and at home to Celtic.
But he seems to be on a short leash with developments around him suggesting that a get-out plan is being formulated at the club for if he doesn’t start delivering the goods.
In other Rangers news, a big name former Premier League manager would be under “serious consideration” if he is interested in the job.