Player Power- James Sands opens up on Micky Beale’s weaknesses

James Sands has offered a glimpse into the insecurities of Micky Beale.

The Ibrox boss is in his first season in management and very much out of his comfort zone after ditching QPR after 20 matches.

Last month’s Viaplay Cup Final defeat to Celtic exposed Beale to torrents of abuse and criticism- mainly arising from his fear of selecting Todd Cantwell or Nicolas Raskin to go up against the Celtic midfield.

Beale previously admitted that he spoke to senior players before deciding to sign Cantwell, now it appears that Gary McAllister’s assistant sounds out senior players for their thoughts on team-mates.

Speaking to American podcast Tune In Sands discussed the new Ibrox boss:

He is a really good coach and a lot of the guys had previous experience with him, so I felt a bit behind everyone at the start. He just had a different approach to the game which maybe didn’t suit me.

I did (get honest feedback from Beale). He said he really liked me as a player and one of the first sit-downs I had with him, he said when he looks at new players, he likes to ask other players how they feel about that person and what he said to me was the team really respected you as a player and someone he had no problem putting on.

But at the end of the day there are guys he liked better and guys he had worked with before so it became harder to get games.

Sands cut his loan deal short to return to New York City FC after dropping out of contention at Ibrox.

Can you explain why you where there? Was it to give them all cuddles?

— Kenny Hadden (@KHadden85) February 28, 2023