Everything Michael Beale said on rocky Rangers tenure as ex-boss lifts lid on time at Ibrox in revealing podcast
Here is everything Michael Beale said about his time at Rangers - including working with Steven Gerrard, replacing Gio van Bronckhorst and his Ibrox transfers.
On Steven Gerrard asking him to come to Rangers...
“When I was Liverpool under-23s manager, you had a lot of ex-players come in and work around the ground. Rob Jones, Steven McManaman, Robbie Fowler, even Kenny Dalglish came in. It was brilliant for me as a young coach having these guys in. It was said Steven was coming back and was going to be in and around the academy for six months, so I was actually looking forward to him and coming and perhaps spending a bit of time working around the group - but it coincided with me leaving. I left to go to Brazil.
“When I came back the following September, Steven was managing the under-18s, but our roles never really overlapped. We never really got past hello. So the day he asked me to join Rangers was a surprise to myself. I thought I would stay at Liverpool and move back up the age groups that summer. It was a nice surprise and the moment I sat and spoke to Steven about what he wanted and his ambitions, I thought it was an unbelievable opportunity to follow him.”
On what he knew of Rangers before joining and working with Steven Gerrard...
“Steven was absolutely fantastic to work for. Not only him, but his assistant was Gary McAllister. Two really famous people. Both national team captains that I could learn so much from. There was certainly some areas that I could to them as well, in terms of on-field coaching, and Steven way is to stand back a little bit more an observe and he gave me a great deal of freedom, trust and autonomy to put my ideas into the team. For that three and a half years originally that we were at Rangers, it was fantastic. It was clear that it was a huge club, but it was making its way back from being dropped down the leagues in 2012. There was a huge turnover of players from when I was there with Steven and we had to rebuild, but then we had to rebuild more to achieve more.”
On winning Rangers 55th title...
“There was a remit to come in and win the league in that time and thankfully we did it in the last year. To win a 55th title with Rangers was our motto, it wasn't so much us stopping (Celtic), it was more us winning, which I think was important mentally. We made steady progress every season. I think the break that we had for that Covid period was really important and how we managed it for the players and their familiar, that were obviously in an uncertain time like ourselves. I felt it brought the bond even closer. It was close but it brought the bond even closer. Obviously, in that season I think we played 56 games and we lost only two in normal time. One on penalties and then lost two other games, but in the 38 league games we were unbeaten, which for that Rangers when I look back now was a huge achievement. There was a lot of work that went into it. The team's relationship was very important. I thought Stephen and Gary, myself, Tom and the other staff, Jordan, Scott. That tight staff was essential, but what I saw there was the the players, the changing room and the way they felt about each other had a big part to play.”
On the challenge of Celtic and ‘not winning more’...
“Our rivals were pushing to get better and are biggest rivals were going for a big achievement themselves. Maybe it was better to be the chasers in that scenario. That season, it was successful. Even saying that, we did win the league as invincibles, which was incredible - but we should have won more. My feeling with that is that it was a wonderful achievement, but we lost in the two cups when I think we should have won more that season.”
On Giovanni van Bronckhorst...
“I thought he did a wonderful job. I think he deserved more time for what he achieved. There was a lot of turnover and there was a similar situation with myself. When you look at van Brocnkhorst, he won the Scottish Cup and got to the Europa League final and was a penalty away from winning it. He qualified for the Champions League, for him to lose his job early was a surprise when it was me the club reached out to. There was a warning sign in that, there’s not much patience, but you still want to take the opportunity yourself.”
On returning to Rangers and his record as head coach...
“It was a completely different staff. I was asked to come back in and recreate that good feeling and get the team back playing the way it was previously. I went in and worked with the players that were there. There wasn’t much change from the squad, from Gio’s squad to my squad - and there were still 21 players that were there under Steven. We started off fantastic. There were happy to see me back. We won 18, drew one, lost one in our first 20 games, which is remarkable but at the time Ange Postecoglou was nine points clear. We managed to get two points back and there were the team that beat us in the cup final and the semi-final, so it was a sore end to the season. But we had won 80% of the games. Out of 29 games, we had won 23, so going into the next summer, you were very optimistic about the new season - but unfortunately around April time the sporting director left, Ross Wilson”
On the effect of Ross Wilson leaving Rangers...
“A big thing for me because Ross and Stewart Robertson the CEO, they were people I knew from the time I was there from Steven (Gerrard). They were two of the guys along with John Bennett the current chairman that met me to speak about me coming back. The offer was less than the offer I had at QPR to say so again this was made with the heart but I knew I had those guys around me. I also know the academy manager really well and the head of coaching in the academy Zeb Jacobs is someone I identified with the club.
“So I felt I was going back into a club where I knew everybody but around April time Ross left, the CEO Stewart Robertson was leaving, the academy manager was leaving, the chief scouts all left. I felt myself in a situation that wasn’t one I would’ve signed up for in the November. I love Rangers Football Club and the time that I had there but I went in, we were really pushing and come the summer - a lot changed.
On his Rangers transfers...
“In the winter we brought in Nicolas Raskin. A young Belgium U21 international. We paid early to get him. It was a free but we paid around £800k to get him and we brought Todd Cantwell in on a completely free transfer. In the summer 17 players left. A lot of them left because financially it was better for them to move on a free transfers than stay. What I learned in the second time at Rangers is that the wage bill had increased from the time I was there with Steven and it had to come down. We had so many big earners out of contract, our offer to them was nowhere near the offer they had to leave.
“Nine came in, 17 left. The front six players, all the forwards, all left. Out of those who left the only one that I really didn’t want to leave and I had any power over was Fashion Sakala, who done really well for me. But he had an offer to triple his wages and the club had an offer for a player they brought in for free to take the best part of £4million to go. So that was frustrating. The other guys all wanted to leave so it wasn’t like you were holding anybody back. We tried to buy Malik Tillman, was who a big player for us but Bayern Munich trumped up. Part of the deal was we could make an offer, they could buy him back. So we went into the season with a lot of change. Unfortunately, I think there had to be a greater awareness. I wasn’t prepared to say that publicly, but of course when you change the amount of players we did, it was going to take time.”
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On his sacking from Rangers...
“The new season starts, we won eight, drew two and lost four and I left. I think if we had explained a bit better about the process we were going through, it could have prolonged. It is sad the way it ended for me personally, I’m listening and looking at what the chairman has said and come out for Philippe Clement, which I think is really important because we didn’t communicate like that last year, when the situation was exactly the same. Rangers needed a bit of a turnover of players, and financially the wages, getting into the Champions League and the bonuses the players got - that had to come down again. They’re the things people don’t see. For the young students who are listening and maybe want to follow that pathway, what are my skills? My skills are coaching and managing and developing football players. I was thrust into a situation that was a little bit alien to all the skills that I had. Thankfully for me, the new CEO James Bisgrove, he did all the contract negotiations, all the financial stuff. That wasn’t anything I was involved in - how much we were paying for players or wages. But certainly in that period from April through leaving Rangers in October, I wasn’t able to spend as much time on the training pitch as I did before. I was basically being pulled. The losing of a sporting director and a CEO, as a young manager, that was crucial to me.”
The full podcast can be listened to here.
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