Rangers board ramp up new manager search as Michael Beale impediment removed by QPR

The Rangers board plan to ramp up discussions with potential candidates for their managerial vacancy later in the coming days, with Queens Park Rangers stressing they will not stand in Michael Beale’s way should the frontrunner for the job be formally approached by the Ibrox hierarchy.

Michael Beale, left, was appointed manager of QPR back in June but their director of football Les Ferdinand, right, says he would not stand in the way of an approach as long as compensation terms were met.

Rangers are looking for a new head coach after Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s sacking was announced on Monday morning. Beale, a former coach at the club under Steven Gerrard, is currently in charge of English Championship outfit QPR and recently turned down the opportunity to speak to Wolves about a move to the Midlands. Popular within the Ibrox boardroom and the fanbase, the 42-year-old’s odds have tumbled since Van Bronckhorst’s exit and QPR’s director of football Les Ferdinand told the Daily Record: “I haven’t spoken to Michael or Rangers about this. But I expected Michael’s name would be mentioned because he did such a good job while he was up there working with Steven. I don’t want to have to fight to keep anyone at QPR. I want people who want to be here. If they want to be somewhere else, that’s what they’re going to do. We’d have to have a conversation. It’s not that I’d be happy to have it but I only want people at the club who want to be here. There is a compensation package in Michael’s contract and if he decided he wanted to go to Rangers, that’s something that would have to be discussed.”

It is reported that Rangers would have to spend roughly £1.5million to prise Beale away from the London club, in addition to a compensation package for Van Bronckhorst and his coaching team of approximately £4m. The club, currently nine points behind Celtic in the cinch Premiership, plan to undergo a thorough recruitment process but are mindful of time given that the league restarts on December 15 with a home match against Hibs. Rangers are also due to play Bayer Leverkusen in a friendly at Ibrox on December 10.

Managing director Stewart Robertson and sporting director Ross Wilson will be at the forefront of the search for a new boss. Talks this week are likely to take place in England, with ex-Burnley boss Sean Dyche, former Bayer Leverkusen manager Gerardo Seoane and current Yokohama F Marinos coach Kevin Muscat other candidates listed by bookmakers. There has been no word as to who is in interim charge of first-team affairs at the club, with the vast majority of the squad away on a break due to the World Cup.