Michael Beale sets out timeline for Rangers signings with Champions League qualifiers on horizon

Michael Beale will favour the traditional approach over the modern as Rangers prepare for a “huge” summer of transfer activity.

In an ideal world, Beale would love to have the bulk of his recruitment done by the time the Ibrox side enters the Champions League qualifiers at the start of August, admitting the squad “needs help” if they are to return to the group stage for a second successive season.

The Rangers manager will be guided by analytics as he considers the strengths and weaknesses of potential signings but his first port of call will remain “trusted eyes” like veteran scout John Park and Beale’s assistant, Neil Banfield, whose judgement will continue to form the first stage of a multi-layered process.

“There are people that I always bounce ideas off and people that have been around a long time, like John,” said Beale. “I have one on my staff in terms of Neil. We identify a player, I send my trusted eyes to go and see them and then they will say to me, ‘you need to go now’ or ‘you need to open the dialogue and have that conversation’.

Rangers manager Michael Beale wants his summer transfer business completed early. (Photo by Rob Casey / SNS Group)

“I am someone that likes to sit in front of players and have a conversation about where they are going and making sure we are on the same page because I think that helps. Even with all the data and stuff like that, it is eyes first and you use the data to back things up. Certainly not the other way around.”

Beale succeeded Giovanni van Bronckhorst in November “in the middle of a storm” and signed just two players, Nicolas Raskin and Todd Cantwell, in January. He expects to be far busier this summer as he tries to put his own mark on the squad.

“I think it’s huge,” he confirmed. “We can see we have the foundations but it’s a big summer because there are some prominent players out of contact who have been fantastic for the club over the last few years and performed well. But it’s natural we need to bring some freshness in. I think the fans want to see some fresh faces and energy as well.

“I’m going to push [to have it finalised by the time of the Champions League qualifiers]. The first international break comes around September 3 or 4 and the window obviously shuts a couple of days before. By then, you’ve played five league games and possibly two or four European games.

“Those moments are pivotal in the season because they set up the rest of the campaign. We have to get the squad we want in place by then. We return to preseason in the last couple of days of June and I expect to see some new faces in that day.”

Rangers have lost both their chairman Douglas Park – replaced by John Bennett – and sporting director Ross Wilson in recent weeks but Beale insists it is not to the detriment of the summer plans.

“We have changed from one very strong chairman to another so I don’t see that as anything people can write down. The only surprise I’ve had was losing Ross as sporting director. But me and Ross were very clear on where the club needed to move forward and we’d already identified a lot of the players.”