‘Puts referees under huge pressure’ - Rangers Michael Beale on derby experience without away fans ahead of Celtic clash

A veritable lifetime of football experiences were crammed into Michael Beale’s three-and-a-half years at Rangers as assistant to Steven Gerrard.

Rangers' players take to pitch for the March 2019 derby during Michael Beale's first spell when they Ibrox club did have a small section of their own supporters, as won't be the case on Saturday for the Englishman's first game at the stadium as manager. (Photo by SNS Group/Craig Williamson).

But he has to go back to his Brazil days for something akin to what will bear down on him in his first derby across the city as head honcho of the Ibrox team. The absence of any away supporters in a capacity crowd, as there will be for Saturday’s confrontation between Scottish football’s fierest foes, didn’t happen across his time as Rangers’ No 2 that began in May 2019. The pandemic season of 2020-01 necessitated all fixtures being played in empty stadiums as Gerrard’s men powered to an historic title success without losing a league game but in terms of what awaits at the weekend Beale requires to delve into his South American sojourn.

In January 2017, the 42-year-old – until then only having worked with young players in the systems of Chelsea and Liverpool – accepted an offer to become second-in-command to Rogerio Ceni at Sao Paolo. “Special times” ensued but he found the absence of away supporters for Sao Paolo’s enmity-fuelled match-up with Santos, known as ‘the black and white duel’ regrettable. And for a reason that could induce a certain unease when he takes his team to the east end of Glasgow this weekend.

“[Having none of your own fans] impacts it because it’s very hostile when you go,” he said. “I think the referees are put under a huge amount of pressure if you have a large crowd [all] in favour of one team. Even having just a few fans is better than none, I would say. But in Brazil there were reasons for that. There was a lot of crowd violence at the Sao Paulo derbies before I went there. There was one game when Santos and Sao Paulo parked the buses up and a Santos player sat next to a Sao Paulo player. They were driving in together. I don’t see that happening anywhere else in the world … You’d always rather have some fans, even if it was only a small amount. I just think it adds to the flavour of the game and also there is the referee pressure [element without them].”

Not that this handicap prevented his short spell – ended when he “spat the dummy” and resigned over players being sold he was keen to work with – serving up his most treasured success in the environment. “My big memory from that time was when we went to play Santos away,” Beale said. “It was the day my family arrived in Brazil and Santos was where Pele played so much of his iconic football. It’s an iconic club as well and we won 3-1. That was a particularly good day. It was February 15, 2017. My first game was actually in Tampa Bay against River Plate. You’re English. You’re with Sao Paulo and you’re playing a River Plate. It feels unique. Three days later we played Corinthians in Florida. There was a mass brawl and three players were sent off in the first seven minutes. There is passion everywhere, it’s not just here in Glasgow.”