Rangers: ‘Baffling’ decision could set club back years
Rangers could pay the price for their transfer activity under Michael Beale for the next couple of seasons, according to journalist Andy Devlin.
Beale was sacked by Rangers on October 1 after just 10 months in charge at Ibrox, with a replacement yet to be brought in.
The Gers signed a large number of players across Beale’s two transfer windows in charge, but many of them have failed to find their feet.
Speaking on PLZ Soccer‘s The Journos podcast (12 October, 19m 4s), Scottish Sun reporter Devlin criticised the Gers’ recent spending and the appointment of Beale in the first place.
“The issue for them is they have to get this appointment right, they have to,” he said. “I have to say, after Pedro Caixinha, lessons might have been learned in that regard.
“People at the time said Steven Gerrard was a gamble, and I suppose any managerial appointment is, but I thought he’d bring some gravitas to the role – look at his trophy record.
“Beale was a baffling appointment from the get-go as far as I’m concerned. I think it was the easy option. When Gerrard left, [Giovanni] Van Bronckhorst was an obvious candidate; Beale was then the easy option for Rangers.
“At that point they had to find resources from somewhere to back an experienced manager. To then allow Beale the leeway he had in the summer with regards to recruitment, it’s baffling, it really is. This summer alone could set Rangers back a couple of seasons.”
Damning
Rangers recruited nine players in the summer transfer window alone, helping to offset the departures of 14 players at the end of last season – first-team regulars or otherwise.
It was reported at the close of the window that the Gers spent around £13million in total on those new recruits, but Beale later said that figure was “miles off” as he defended the club’s transfer activity.
Either way, it was a large amount of money on a group of players who have largely flopped.
Indeed, it could be argued that goalkeeper Jack Butland is the only one of those nine newbies who has made a positive impact.
Perhaps most damning of all, of those nine, only Butland, Dujon Sterling and Cyriel Dessers started the 1-0 loss to Celtic on 3 September – a defeat that Beale was never going to recover from.
It may well be that Beale’s signings push on under the new manager, whether that be Philippe Clement or Kevin Muscat, but Devlin is right in saying the Gers will pay the price for at least a couple of seasons.
The Rangers hierarchy are unlikely to splash out in the January window, so it will be a case of Clement or Muscat working with what they have. Good luck with that!
In other Rangers news, Chris Jack has provided an update on the Gers’ search for Beale’s successor.