Michael Beale speaks on Giovanni van Bronckhorst sacking, QPR departure and condition of Rangers squad

Rangers' Ryan Kent and Ryan Jack trudge off dejectedly after the 1-1 draw with St Mirren earlier this month.

The 42-year-old is widely deemed to have walked into a difficult situation after choosing to leave QPR to succeed Giovanni van Bronckhorst in the Ibrox hotseat. But despite Rangers trailing city rivals Celtic by nine points at the top of the cinch Premiership following a poor run of form, Beale does not believe the Gers, who reached the Europa League final earlier this year, are as “broken” as is being portrayed in some quarters.

“I’ve told them (the players) I’ve got a big belief in them, otherwise I wouldn’t have wanted to have come back,” Beale said in an interview with Sky Sports. “It’s a privilege to be here working, but I think we just need to have a little bit of a shake and a bit of an honest conversation and get back the standards. Coaches have various ideas of how to play, but the players go on to the pitch and play. Six months ago this was the Europa League finalists. This team is not as broken as people think. If people think that outside then the only people that can change that are the people inside and we’ve got to go now. There’s no time to wait, so if people are not all in then they can go to one side and the people who are, I’ll move forward with those.”

Beale expressed sympathy for predecessor Van Bronckhorst, who was sacked last week. “I think the injuries have played a massive part and I think after such a high at the end of the season, winning the Scottish Cup, I think it maybe had an impact on one or two,” he said, when asked why Rangers’ form had dipped this term. “The injuries has been the biggest thing I’ve seen, I think they’ve had a big impact in terms of consistency on the pitch and every club needs their best players fit more than not. I think that led to a situation where the results maybe went the wrong way. I think Gio is an excellent professional, he comes across so well and he’s a man of high class. There was a tinge of sadness, then obviously the opportunity came for myself to come back and that was a huge opportunity for me.”

Beale also addressed his decision to leave QPR for Ibrox, where he worked previously as a coach, a little over a month after turning down the chance to take charge of Wolves in the Premier League. “It was a really difficult situation,” he said. “I was extremely happy at QPR, really happy there in terms of in my professional life. (Director of football) Les Ferdinand was outstanding with me. The owners, I’ve spoken to them on the phone in the last 24 hours. They really have been good owners, they understand the reasons. There are family and football reasons that have come to this decision.

“There’s a difference in the size of the clubs, it’s fair to say. There was more in the background than the previous opportunity with a Premier League team. We had to remind ourselves that Rangers were the Europa League finalists five or six months ago and a manager, in his first year, that knows the club and knows the players was asked to come back. That’s very unique, the size of this club. It’s not a financial decision, there were other opportunities that were financially bigger, this is a football decision and also a decision for my personal life.

“My family are very happy and comfortable here in Glasgow. Everything’s come together and what’s important now is that I get on with this job. What I can say to the QPR fans is the club is moving in the right way, they have good owners who are running the club very, very well. All I can say is thank you to everybody. I know that I’ve disappointed a few, but it’s never as simple as people think it is. The opportunities that have been presented to me recently were very difficult to turn down. This one was impossible to turn down.”