Michael Beale under ‘automatic pressure’ with Rangers favourites to win League Cup ahead of Livingston clash – John Hartson
Rangers are the “favourites” to win the League Cup this season because Celtic are already out, although there are still some “very good teams” left in the competition, says John Hartson.
The pundit and ex-Hoops striker said on The Football Show on Go Radio (14 September) that his former side’s exit to Kilmarnock left Michael Beale with “automatic pressure” to win his first trophy given he is now expected to.
The Ibrox boss is already under major pressure after dropping four points behind Celtic in the SPFL with another Old Firm defeat before the international break, but faces Livingston in the quarter-final later this month (27 September) with a cup win tipped to potentially relieve this job concerns.
Hartson said (24m 20s) of winning the trophy: “That’s the plan. They are favourites now that Celtic went out to Kilmarnock, so there’s automatic pressure now for Rangers to go on, although there’s still some very good teams left in the competition.”
Major opportunity
It would be wrong to write off the rest of the teams in the League Cup, not least Kilmarnock themselves who have already beaten both sides of the Old Firm this season.
But many will see the door wide open and Beale left to simply walk through it to end his wait for a trophy in charge of Rangers.
As his time as manager has largely been characterised by solid results until he comes up against Celtic it would represent a telling failure if he still failed to lift the cup when the Glasgow rivals were out of the equation, and would likely end his time in charge.
Whether the 43-year-old will get the chance to lead his side through the final three games of the competition either way is a valid question, since dropped points in the league or a major hammering in Europe along the way could lead to the board running out of patience.
But he has the opportunity to go on a run coming out of the international break with a series of winnable fixtures on paper, and if he can build up momentum there is no reason why the League Cup can’t be secured.
It would be a start, although it is ultimately going to be his ability to keep pace with and beat Celtic that will be the difference between him staying in the role long-term of not.
In other Rangers news, the fact that a first-team player has fallen to third-choice “doesn’t bode well” for their future at the club says Chris Jack.