Soccer Football - Scottish League Cup - Final - Rangers v Celtic - Hampden Park, Glasgow, Scotland, Britain - February 26, 2023 Rangers manager Michael Beale speaks to his players after the match Action Images via Reuters/Lee Smith
Two days on from the reality of Hampden the Rangers Review has launched the first squirrel to deflect blame from bungling Micky Beale.
Up until lunchtime on Sunday the former QPR boss was the brightest young manager in the business, transforming Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s side into the best team in the country and on the brink of a treble success.
Now that Celtic have brought reality back to Scottish football Ibrox fans are starting to realise why Oostende allowed Fashion Sakala to run down his contract with questions being raised over whether John Lundstram is really the best on earth.
Once upon a time Ibrox fans also had a catchy song for star striker Joey Garner.
Rather than blame a cowardly manager afraid to play his two January signings and a number of tactical blunders the search is on for excuses over failing to beat a Celtic side some way short of top form.
Big Jonny at the RR explains:
Amid the understandable heat that comes with such a disappointing showing and result, it’s an issue that’s gone slightly under the radar in the post-match analysis. Nobody wants to be seen to be making excuses for the inexcusable, but if you don’t pinpoint problems you can’t hope to fix them.
Beale’s point ties into what became something of a conversation starter earlier this week when it emerged that while Celtic have completely changed their starting XI – Callum McGregor apart – since the 2019 League Cup final, Rangers’ core remains pretty much intact. This is a sign of poor organisation and a malaise at the top for some, but delve into the facts and a competing narrative also emerges.
Since the summer the board have stumped up for 9 players to be signed on permanent contracts. John Souttar, Tom Lawrence, Antonio Colak, Rabbi Matondo, Ridvan Yilmaz, Malik Tillman and Ben Davies arrived in the summer. Todd Cantwell and Nico Raskin were purchased in January. Of this group, only ONE arrived at Hampden following a run of unbroken matches – Ben Davies.Â
None of the injured stars would have started at Hampden- Beale couldn’t even get Cantwell and Raskin on the park until the 64th minute.
The back four and goalkeeper are clear first picks, two midfielders were selected ahead of the January wonderboys alongside £5m rated Malik Tillman.
In attack Sakala is a fans favourite while Ryan Kent and Alfredo Morelos are first picks despite both refusing to extend their contracts.
Former wonderboy Ianis Hagi couldn’t get off the bench on Sunday with Scott Wright send on in the 84th minute to fill in for Sakala.
Hopefully Souttar, Lawrence, Yilmaz, Helander and Roofe are fit and well for the visit to Celtic on April 8.
Will Micky Beale last one year as manager at Ibrox?
Yes, his outstanding coaching will soon shine though
No chance- another Warbo, Murty, Caixinha, Gio
Truth is that all of these players are low grade shite.
The reason sevco lost is that Celtic has a far better team and manager with players motivated to do their best for him the club and the supporters.
Also their goal should have been disallowed. Chubby Moreloss clearly pushes Mooy out of the way to allow him space to score. If he hadn’t done this he would have had no room to hit the target. Celtic should also have scored at least another 2 goals and a true reflection of play would have been a 5-0 scoreline.
However I’m quite happy that the gullibillies think they have valid excuses for the defeat. Let them wallow in their stupidity.
They have no money to improve their squad, which needs drastic improvement, and the only way is down for them.
I see another summer of jelly and ice cream beckoning.
It’s GREAT being a TIM!