We will win if he performs exactly as he did last season.

Rangers have taken a step back under Michael Beale, and the Ibrox board must tread carefully because the next manager will have to do miracles.
“Thank you and good luck” . Yesterday, Michael Beale’s Instagram page communicated five words. It looked oddly heavy as a sign off.
It’s more than luck the Rangers need as they ponder a season that’s already on the verge of unravelling. Beale has left behind a squad that is not only lagging behind Rangers’ cross-city rivals, but is also lagging behind Rangers’ near neighbours in Paisley. It’s one thing to be seven points behind Celtic, but quite another to be three points behind St Mirren.

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Michael Beale’s comments on Celtic suddenly appear even more dumb in light of Rangers’ firing.

Michael Beale was far from a meek and retiring figure during his time as a manager in Scottish football, but the inflammatory statements against Celtic began long before he took over at Rangers.

Beale, who was renowned for calling to Ange Postecoglou as ‘lucky’ and hyping up his own club without much evidence, has been ousted as manager at Ibrox and replaced by an interim management combination of Steven Davis and Alex Rae.

All the bravado and loudmouth declarations about what the Rangers should have done in the past or what they should do in the future are leaving with him. The reality is that his squad had to watch Celtic win the treble before falling seven points behind in the early parts of this season.

As a result, his statements about what may have happened if he and Steven Gerrard had stayed at Ibrox instead of moving to Aston Villa sound even more ridiculous.

Beale conducted an interview to BT Sport’s Currie Club podcast in November 2022, a few weeks before replacing Giovanni van Bronckhorst, regarding his time at Rangers and the position he left the club in as Steven Gerrard’s assistant before returning to England.

“We hadn’t lost in the previous eight or nine Old Firms.” The second one was maybe in the post since in any derby with two horses, anyone can win. However, the games were not extremely close. They may not have been visible on the scoreboard, but while you were in the stadium, we were in complete control of every game.”

Widely regarded as ‘the brains’ and ‘the coach’ behind the Gerrard era at Celtic, I believe we can now put Postecoglou’s first title win to rest.

Ange would have won if he had stayed, exactly as he did last season. Beale lacked the ability to be a winner in his own right at Rangers. Last year, he lost every derby that was actually important to him.

Perhaps in his next position, he’ll be a little more humble and think twice about commenting about others before doing anything to prove his own managerial skills.