Rangers boss on why Celtic final doesn't alter job, League Cup 'pecking order' and number of signings wanted

The League Cup has a curious place within Scottish football. The quirky little sibling of the revered Scottish Cup. It can be seen as strange, a pest and treated with a mixture of indifference and contempt. After all, it is onto its second name already this campaign. For many it will always be the Skol, Coca-Cola or CIS Insurance Cup. Never the Scottish Communities League Cup.

“Listen, the League Cup is a trophy I want to win," Rangers boss Michael Beale said ahead of Sunday’s final against rivals Celtic. “But at the start of the season, I don’t know where it is in the pecking order, but it’s not number one. So it’s important that after this weekend we get back to trying to pick up the trophies we want to.”

For 43 of the 45 teams who enter the competition it is a nice piece of silverware but the Scottish Cup is the Holy Grail. For Celtic and Rangers, it can act as that casino chip which you store away after a hefty win, the safety blanket, making sure you don't leave empty handed. It can also act as a trampoline, the trophy acts as a gateway to the business end of the season and can provide a bounce for the remainder of the campaign. For Beale it is the opportunity to put down a marker early in his tenure. To win something the club has not in 12 years.

‘Work to do’

The message was loud and clear from the club’s supporters at Livingston: "Two trophies in 11 years – uphold the standards that matter." Rangers managers are judged on trophies won. Win or lose, however, it won't change Beale’s job.

“We don’t want to go too overboard on it because it’s just one game," he said. “We’ve still got to play however many league games and the Scottish Cup too. Everything is important. This weekend the League Cup comes to an end. Hopefully we’ve got it and for a few players who’ve been here since I came in in 2018, this would complete their set.

“After this weekend my job doesn’t get any bigger or smaller. It’s still going to be a huge job come Monday and my in-tray is going to be really big.

“This is a one-off game. Would I like us to be in an even stronger place going in? Yes but I don’t remember too many times when both teams were going in on the back of such long unbeaten runs. Naturally something has got to give and I’m hoping I’m delighted on Sunday evening and not lower than a snake’s belly. But ultimately on Monday we’ve got a lot of work to do.”

Michael Beale will lead Rangers out against Celtic in the Viaplay Cup final. (Photo by Alan Harvey / SNS Group)

No overhaul required

Beale has experience of an Old Firm League Cup final before as a member of Steven Gerrard's coaching staff. But this time he is “front and centre”, something which he much prefers. It has arrived early in his reign, having replaced Giovanni van Bronckhorst at the end of November. He believes the days, weeks and months leading up to this have demonstrated there is more to come from this squad and an extensive overhaul is not required, with up to five recruits required in the summer.

“You just saw that two players in Nico Raskin and Todd Cantwell coming in has changed the perception a little bit," Beale said. “We’ve got Malik Tillman, if Tom Lawrence was fit alongside Ianis Hagi after his long injury then people would be going there’s loads of energy in the future for Rangers. Ben Davies has done ever so well in the last few weeks and since I’ve come back Borna Barisic is playing as well as ever.

“I came into a lot of noise. That’s because the team had set really high standards and fallen short of it for two or three months. They had some tough days out. But me looking at it with my Rangers glasses on – because that’s what I have to do – I thought ‘no, there are reasons behind it in terms of injuries.’ I felt if I could just patch that up a little bit and get to the end of the season then we’ll go into another window looking to add three or four or maybe five players. But they’ve got to be the right ones. They’ve got to come in and really take the shirt forward."

Todd Cantwell and Nicolas Raskin have had a positive impact at Ibrox since joining. (Photo by Craig Foy / SNS Group)

He added: “I get that everyone is talking about the momentum that could be got from winning this trophy. We’re fighting for a trophy. But after that I still have a lot of work to do, whether we win or lose the game. Come Monday my head will firmly be back on how I’m taking Rangers forward in the longer term.”

New boys' time to shine

Cantwell and Raskin could take centre stage at Hampden Park due injuries, not something Beale has any concerns about. They were signed for such occasions. The latter, especially, has shown up really well already, adding a spark and verve to the Rangers midfield.

“They have a lot of belief in themselves and rightly so,” he said. “They are two good young players. I think they come in with a freedom of not being caught up in the politics of Scottish football, if you like, and everything around this fixture. Maybe they can just come in and play with real freedom.

“They are two boys who have signed up for a long journey at the club. Therefore their energy and their innocence towards the pressures and expectations I think is quite nice at this moment in time.

“They both came in having not played for two or three months and in the last two or three weeks we have tried to help that with minutes on the pitch. But they are still getting into tune with their team-mates. With another three or four like them to come in during the summer and we’ll be in a really good place I think.”

Michael Beale was promoting Viaplay’s exclusively live coverage of the Viaplay Cup Final between Rangers and Celtic on Sunday from 2pm. Viaplay is available to stream from viaplay.com or via your TV provider on Sky, Virgin TV and Amazon Prime as an add-on subscription.