George Overhill

Wed 13 December 2023 13:10, UK

Fashion Sakala’s banishment at Rangers in preseason left the likes of James Tavernier and Connor Goldson in disbelief, according to Zambian.

The ex-Gers forward told Rangers Review (13 December) that he was forced to say goodbye to key teammates by phone as he never saw any of them again once the previous Ibrox manager barred him from the training ground before selling him to Al-Fayha in Saudi Arabia.

Sakala, 26, remains hurt and confused by his treatment by Beale in the summer as he says he was frozen out with no explanation, which when he informed the two Light Blues defenders upon his departure also left them shocked and surprised.

Sakala told Rangers Review’s Chris Jack: “I went back to pre-season in Germany and it was a big surprise because my pictures were not taken. I was scoring beautiful goals and my goals were not published. I could see my friends celebrating goals. When we had a team meeting, my answers were not allowed to be published.

“People started asking if I was there in pre-season. I was there from the beginning to the end. It was a hard one to take for me. Even if there was a club that wanted to buy me, I could have at least been respected a little bit and left the club in a good way.

“To be told not to train with the team for no reason… I have never had a discipline issue with the club. It was hard for me. Rangers was a club that I felt was like my home and receiving that treatment was so hard for me.”

On Beale he added: “That was the hard one. When I was coming back for the new season, I thought the coach would trust me and want me there for the new season. He didn’t talk to me about anything or any transfers. He clearly showed me that I wasn’t part of his plans without telling me anything.

“The time I received a call from Mick Beale was when he told me not to come to the training ground anymore. That was hard for me because I didn’t do anything. Players leave clubs but they are not told not to go to the training ground, not told not to be part of the team. You can have clubs that can come in for you but still, you are training with the team. I stayed without training with the club for almost two weeks.”

“I think I deserved much better, I deserved to be respected at least. I can leave the club, but don’t tell me not to train with the team, don’t tell me not to go to the Rangers Training Centre anymore, as if I did something wrong. I understand you want to sell me to get money to buy new players, that is fine.

“But let me just be part of the team, let me say goodbye nicely to my teammates. When I received a call that I shouldn’t go to the training ground anymore, I didn’t see any of my teammates anymore.

“It was hard to say goodbye in such a bad way to people who looked after me so well – Tavernier, Goldson – I had to talk to them on phones when it was time to leave. It was hard for them to believe that I wasn’t allowed to go to the training ground anymore.”

Needless

If Sakala’s account is accurate it is little wonder things fell apart under Beale earlier this season, and makes the former forward’s exit all the more disappointing.

Players leave clubs all the time, frequently through no fault of their own, but it seems an unnecessarily harsh way to treat a player who appeared to be an important part of the side last season.

The former manager may well see the situation differently. He claimed at the time he had been “counting on” Sakala but suggested it had been his urging that saw the attacker take the Saudi money “for him and his family” [PLZ Soccer, 8 August], but given the latest development that seems an odd way of going about things.

After 12 goals and eight assists in the SPFL last season there seemed little reason to get rid of the former Oostende man so late in the window, especially when it left the attacking line up looking short of speed.

As with the decision to dispense with Antonio Colak’s services after a single season in which he scored 18 times in all competitions it would have been possible to justify their exits if Rangers were more effective up front as a result.

That hasn’t happened and Beale has been replaced as a result, with the much-anticipated summer overhaul proving a spectacular miscalculation on the whole.

Colak also appeared to be less than disappointed when his former manager was sacked at Ibrox, suggesting the man-management left a lot to be desired.

In other Rangers news, a “grim” and “depressing” incident at Ibrox has outraged Tom English live on BBC Sportsound.