The tide is most certainly turning against Micky Beale after yesterday’s failure in the final of the Viaplay Cup.
For three months the rookie Ibrox boss has had the unstinting backing of the media as he made their jobs easy with a variety of easy headlines- mostly talking down Celtic with Chris Sutton a bonus target.
The reporters hung on Beale’s every word. All those upbeat managerial sound-bites mixed in with tales about what a fantastic coach they were dealing with. Someone who had worked at Chelsea, lasted 12 matches as an assistant in Brazil then returned to coach Liverpool’s elite u-5 squad.
Everything was in place for a Hampden Coronation but in his biggest challenge Beale failed.
All that talk counted for nothing with the most jarring issue being the decisions to leave Todd Cantwell and Nicolas Raskin sitting on the bench, watching John Lundstram and Glen Kamara getting over run.
There aren’t many reporters as staunch as Christopher Jack of the Herald, Glasgow Times and Rangers Review.
When Jack publishes criticism of the manager Beale ought to take note. Gags about Sutton won’t cut it this week as suffering bears fear that they are staring at another treble to overshadow their own Coronation celebrations on May 6.
In the Glasgow Times Jack warns:
THE buck stops with the manager. Michael Beale has been aware of that in whatever role he has held in the game and the level of criticism directed his way at present will therefore come as no surprise to the 42-year-old.
His time as a boss in his own right has been a case of rise and rise. This week, he will have to come to terms with the first real setback and the post-mortem of events in the Viaplay Cup final will focus as much on him as those he trusted to produce a performance and deliver the silverware.
Beale has been honest enough to admit his part in failings during his first weeks at Ibrox, offering self-critique for his team-talks, selections or tactical decisions. Questions will rightly be asked of his players but the mistakes from the manager were at the heart of a wretched afternoon for Rangers.
Beale had one big selection question to solve. There would have been anxiety amongst supporters when they saw the answer and their fears were then played out as Celtic dominated the midfield and controlled large swathes of the match.
It is easy to be wise after the event but it has to be said that the manager got it wrong and Nicolas Raskin should have been in his starting line-up. That call set the tone.
The clock is now ticking down to Beale being Warburtoned.
Is this the same manager that on Fri was a stick on for England manager job by certain press outlets:-)))
This boy raskin must be some player
Your Raskin the wrong guy.
Ah not to worry . World Cup glory with Engurland awaits ! Noatameen guv !
Raskin and Cantwell were left out for a reason: Beale didn’t think they were better than Lundstram and Kamara i.e. he didn’t have confidence in his new signings.