By Anthony Onifade

19th Sep, 2023 | 7:10pm

Ben Davies backs up Michael Beale sack claim at Rangers after performance v St Johnstone

Rangers defender Ben Davies claimed the dressing room were “100%” behind Michael Beale after Saturday’s St Johnstone triumph and he certainly did his talking on the pitch with a superb individual performance.

The Gers boss was under intense scrutiny following defeats to Celtic and PSV Eindhoven before the international break with Daily Record reporting on 6 September, that chairman John Bennett and other Ibrox chiefs were “ready to stand behind” Beale for now.

Daily Record journalist Keith Jackson also reported on the paper’s website on 6 September that Bennett “will resist calls” to remove the under-fire Gers boss “despite the outpouring of fan fury” after the 1-0 loss to Celtic on 3 September but Beale will have to “deliver an immediate upturn in results”.

Such reports will not have been helped by the rumours flying around that the Ibrox chiefs had approached former Chelsea and Brighton coach Graham Potter about replacing Beale [The Sun, 13 September], while Birmingham coach John Eustace has also been linked with the role [Daily Mail, 6 September].

However, Beale and his men put those rumours to bed for now with a comfortable and assured 2-0 win over St Johnstone at McDiarmid Park, and afterwards Davies outlined what the players are doing to help save Beale.

“I back the manager,” he is quoted as saying by the Scottish Sun [17 September]. “I’ve got 100 per cent faith in him that we can have a good season this year. There’s a long way to go.

“He just needs people like me and others to put in strong performances for him. This is Rangers so you need to win every game.

“When you don’t, it’s about knuckling down, working together and sticking together.

“If you look too much into what people say you end up going down a rabbit hole and it affects you eventually.

“The best way to handle that situation is just to block everything out and to take on a bit of a siege mentality.”

Indeed, Davies is absolutely right. If Rangers were to relieve themselves from the outside pressure then each of Beale’s key men and leaders would certainly need to pull their weight and set an example.

The former Liverpool and Preston North End defender certainly walked the walk and backed up his statement with a strong and dominant defensive showing against the Saints.

The 28-year-old senior man returned to the lineup in fine fettle and proved to Beale why he’s got to be Goldson’s long-term defensive partner for the foreseeable future.

Davies looked a certainty to depart Ibrox during the summer transfer window but both he and Beale made the decision for him to remain and his latest performance again proved what the squad would have been missing had he left.

A no-nonsense performance from the former Liverpool centre-back and like Goldson, rarely gave St Johnstone’s attacks an inch in a comfortable showing, winning a whopping 12 of his 14 total duels, successfully completing 85% of his passes after recording 120 touches, two clearances, one block and was dribbled past zero times [SofaScore] in a Man of the Match showing.

Whenever the pressure is on Rangers and Beale, they can always count on Davies to provide the telling contribution needed to ease any concerns at Ibrox, but more crucially, the senior centre-back may well have saved Beale’s job, for now.

In other Rangers news, one Ibrox player scored a dreadful “3/10” score for his ineffective display v St Johnstone with player ratings shared.