Rangers: Pundit apologises for rage over ‘conman’ Michael Beale at Ibrox after Sunderland sack
Derek Ferguson lost his cool over Michael Beale being a “conman” and a “snake” after his time in charge of Rangers.
The pundit reacted on Open Goal on 22 February in the wake of social media posts linked to the former Ibrox boss coming to light anonymously defending him, following his sacking by Sunderland after just 12 games.
With the 43-year-old having returned to Ibrox with a reputation for being the key man behind Steven Gerrard’s title win Ferguson suggested that narrative may also have been generated by Beale himself, while expressing his anger at how the Englishman had turned up in Glasgow while predecessor Giovanni van Bronckhorst was still in the job and under pressure.
Ferguson said: “What about that Twitter thing that came out? You see now, that plants right in my [expletive] head now we were told under Gerrard he was the brains behind it. Was he behind that then? Was he putting that out on Twitter? Was he the one that was saying, ‘Oh he’s the one that does the tactics, he’s amazing on the grass,’ and all that? Great salesman.
“Serious stuff that he spouted by the way, and then you listen to [Philippe] Clement, it’s like night and day. I was bought because he’s a conman! He’s a salesman! And that’s what he’d done!”
After slamming his fists on the table he added: “Sorry. I don’t know how I’ve lost my rag here. Because it was when Gio was in the manager’s job then he [Beale] was in the Louden Tavern and all that behind the scenes. Snake man, he’s terrible. Terrible.”
Derek Ferguson blasts ‘snake’ Michael Beale at Rangers
It can’t frankly be ruled out whether it was in fact Beale who was pushing the narrative of him being the secret to the 55th title win, although he surely did contribute.
There was risk and disquiet around his return in the top job, which was believed to be Ross Wilson driven at the time and not met with universal approval among the then-Ibrox hierarchy.
He handled the manner of both his exit from QPR and his entry at Rangers badly, but that could all have been swallowed, along with his claim that the Light Blues were a special case for him and sent all rules out the window, if he had backed it up.
To start with he did so as he won games the club were supposed to win, but ultimately he could never properly get over the Celtic hurdle when the pressure was on and the returns were diminishing greatly to start this season.
There were some similar issues in his short spell at the Stadium of Light, meaning his image has surely taken something of a battering since he set out on his own.
It seems unlikely that there is nothing of substance to his coaching reputation but as a manager he hasn’t delivered so far, and unfortunately for him there will likely be more than a few within the Gers fanbase who feel similarly taken in to Ferguson.
In other Rangers news, a “massive” £60million could be on the way at Ibrox with a pundit bemused by how Celtic have messed about with the money.
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