Soccer Football - Championship - Queens Park Rangers v Wigan Athletic - Loftus Road, London, Britain - October 22, 2022 Queens Park Rangers' manager Michael Beale reacts Action Images/Paul Childs EDITORIAL USE ONLY. No use with unauthorized audio, video, data, fixture lists, club/league logos or "live" services. Online in-match use limited to 75 images, no video emulation. No use in betting, games or single club/league/player publications. Please contact your account representative for further details.
Gary Keown of the Daily Mail has gone against the grain by admitting that Micky Beale talks far too much and lists the majority of his media failing.
After 30 years in the news business Keown delivers a detached cynicism in his role as a columnist, no longer having to walk on eggs to stay on message with media access.
Compared to Giovanni van Bronckhorst the former Liverpool u-5 coach is a godsend to the news business but after a lifetime of neglect Beale just doesn’t know when the shut up.
There are two favoured topics- himself and Celtic that he finks way too much about.
Every media conference wif Beale fills big spaces for newspapers and creates air time for broadcasters with almost all outlets on board- clapping and cheering wif Beale believing that in less than 40 matches he is some sort of managerial big hitter.
Taking a step back from all that Keown scratches a little below the surface in his Daily Mail column:
Beale just has to prove he is a steady hand on the tiller. Because that’s what Rangers need after a flaky couple of years. And that’s where some elements of his short reign so far cause a touch of uneasiness.
Listen, he was always going to have to win people over in the court of public opinion given that most ignoble end to his time at Queens Park Rangers. Walking out of his first job after four months and 22 games after talking about integrity and loyalty in the wake of turning down Wolves was poor.
Turning up at Ibrox for a game against Aberdeen — and meeting with fans in a pub beforehand — when Van Bronckhorst was on his last legs was massively ill-judged and really quite classless.
Since then, there have been a number of mis-steps. Nothing major. Just things that ring little alarm bells.
There’s been daft stuff such as branding Aberdeen the third-best team in the country, when they most clearly aren’t, and claiming that Rangers have won two of the last four trophies, when they most clearly haven’t. Getting involved in a public spat with former Celtic player, pundit and pantomime baddie Chris Sutton.
However, there’s been mixed messaging too. Like that whole business of branding Allan McGregor the best keeper in Scotland, dropping him at Kilmarnock for Jon McLaughlin, who performs as poorly as a man whose confidence must be in pieces would, and then challenging both him and the unexposed Robby McCrorie to compete to be No?1 — when it is clear he is bringing in a new goalie in the summer anyway.
There was confusion over transfer policy in January too. One minute, he was bigging up Tom Davies of Everton and refusing to deny a move. The next, he’s saying there was never any interest. As if someone, somewhere behind the scenes, had told him to wind his neck in.
He says there is strong mutual respect between him and Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou. It didn’t look like it when they sat together in awkward silence at that press conference for the cup final during the week. Postecoglou has clearly been irritated by Beale calling him a ‘lucky man’ because of the money he’s got to spend.
Earlier in the season, Beale also tried to smooth over the issue of being sent off in an Old Firm game in 2019 and rowing with Celtic No?2 John Kennedy on the touchline. He spoke of how they met regularly on coaching courses. Gave the impression all was well.
Kennedy pretty much shut that down this week. ‘I’ve not spoken to him since he came back to Scotland,’ he said. ‘We’ve crossed paths doing badges and stuff, but we never really had any relationship outside that.’
Trading verbals with your biggest rivals is all very well if you’re winning. Potentially ruinous if you’re not.
Beale needs to learn quick. It feels counterintuitive as a journalist to say this, but he just talks too much. About things that aren’t going to do him any favours longer term. It makes you worry about a lack of judgment there that will be exposed and magnified as the temperature increases.
Surrounded by sycophants no-one will reel Beale in until results head south at which point he should contact Mark Warburton and Graeme Murty.
Dear lord The Sun is running it’s main football story as Beale not just for England manager but to win the World Cup!!!!!!! Even in the darkest depths of follow follow madness like that of the 30 odd game manager wouldn’t happen (to add to it it even contains stuff about how good a player he was)… This can’t be topped even Keevins won’t go that crazy.
motor mouth wll have the referees in scotland to thank for his position in the league today , those in england know more than most of the hobblin going on in scotland and he’ll be lucky to get a job down there when he’s run out of sevco ,
Good god ! Keown is either about to jump ship to another red top rag ,or he know’s he,’s next in line for redundancy ! Why would he commit such a heinous crime by typing up a piece against Scotland’s establishment clumpany ,so wilfully ? The SMSM have long ,bitter memories !
Hopefully after this afternoon the dirks will be out.
Scottish Media an oxymoron.
Staffed and read by morons.
Full of moronic content.
Newco bosses and players will always have free reign to say whatever they want no matter how ridiculous or even plain wrong it is.
Its always been that way and always will be.
Apply similar behaviours to Celtic bosses and players and the media go into meltdown and Newco supporters need therapy.
The Scottish sports media are entirely responsible for this, they steadfastly refuse to print even one syllable of negativity about that club so when someone does stick their head above the parapet, it invariably gets bitten off immediately.