George Overhill

Mon 25 September 2023 20:40, UK

It “won’t work” for Michael Beale at Rangers because of the “frightening” abuse the manager is now getting from his own fans, according to Andy Walker.

The Sky Sports pundit said on Go Radio (25 September), via Football Scotland, that management is “absolutely brutal” and if Giovanni van Bronckhorst was sacked despite more achievements than his successor another change is likely on the cards, as the board “won’t have it” if there is another stumble in the coming weeks.

Walker doesn’t know who the club could turn to as a replacement but said it will already be crossing the minds of the Ibrox board and he doesn’t think it can work out “longer term”, amid “disgust” at the team from their own fanbase.

Walker said: “You wonder what the chat is in the boardroom. It must be crossing their mind, ‘what do we do?’ if they lost to Livingston. I think they have Aberdeen, Hibs and Hearts in the next few weeks and if they get through all them they’re absolutely plain sailing and beginning to turn it around.

“The 1-0 against Betis was impressive. Second half they were very good but when you speak to and see the Rangers support and level of disgust they have for their team, I just don’t see it working out for Michael Beale in the long term.

“You wonder what the chat is in the boardroom because to be fair he’s been given some money to invest. This is his team. Some of them don’t play, some of them don’t look as though they are up to it.

“I couldn’t tell you who Rangers most important player is just now. Who’s the Rangers fans favourite player? If you take Tavernier out the equation, who is stepping up to the mark? Who is consistently good. I don’t know who it is.

“This is what I’ve heard from Rangers fans when speaking about the last few weeks of Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s reign. The football was terrible, we’re not enjoying it. Remember what he brought to Rangers, Champions League qualification, all that money, the Scottish Cup, the European final. Absolutely brutal to get rid of him but that’s what management is, it’s brutal.

“I think you could get a lot of Rangers fans saying the same things and you wonder where they turn to next given they have invested in the new manager.

“You could win on Wednesday, you could win the semi-final but he might not make it to the final. If we’re assuming the gap remains the same and Celtic continue to win their games, if Rangers stumble at any point the board won’t have it. The Rangers support already won’t have it.

“They’ve seen their team at home and the abuse they got at the end was frightening and that’s why it won’t work. The supporters are a big voice and some of them aren’t turning up to watch the team and it can’t go on.”

Damage done?

Once a manager has lost the fans it is very difficult to bring them back around, albeit not impossible if they deliver results on a consistent basis.

Beale might argue that since the international break he has done what he was supposed to by winning three from three, with the Europa League triumph undoubtedly a good result.

But performances haven’t suggested his project is moving in the right direction yet, and even he admitted the fortunate 1-0 win over Motherwell on Sunday was a “step backwards”.

Injuries are absolutely also hampering his progress, but Rangers were hardly lighting up matches when everyone was fit.

The mitigation for Beale is that he has gone from having a large number of new arrivals to bed in to an injury crisis in his first two months of the season, and it is always possible that a run of scrappy, unenjoyable wins suddenly clicks into gear and sees his plan come together.

But when increasing numbers of supporters have made their minds up about him it could be that the louder the negative reactions get the more tempted the board become to cut their losses.

It may not even be the right decision to change a manager so soon after backing him in the transfer market, but amid stuttering performances and an increasingly poor atmosphere it might not really matter any more in a practical sense.

In other Rangers news, David Martindale has issued a “guarantee” about the Gers support ahead of the Viaplay Cup clash at Ibrox.