Dead Man Walking- report surfaces as bookies lay out the odds for Beale’s successor
Soccer Football - Scottish Premiership - Celtic v Rangers - Celtic Park, Glasgow, Scotland, Britain - April 8, 2023 Rangers manager Michael Beale shakes hands with Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou before the match REUTERS/Russell Cheyne
The Sun has started reporting on the odds over who will succeed Micky Beale at Ibrox.
Four matches into the SPFL season it is now being openly speculated on over who will take over from the under fire Ibrox boss.
Typical of a club that doesn’t have a solitary idea of their own it seems like they will try to take the Australian route that Celtic went down two seasons ago.
Kevin Muscat has worked closely with Ange Postecoglou throughout his coaching career and took over at Yokohama F Marinos when his mentor left for Celtic in June 2021.
Beale has barely had time to enjoy the last crumbs of birfday cake and read out his birfday cards than others are jostling to take his job at Ibrox.
Four defeats to Celtic in three competitions covering three stadiums has been too much for Ibrox fans to come to terms with, in recent years the Ibrox boardroom simply cave in to whatever is proving popular on Social Media.
The Sun reports:
Now that talk has swivelled from giving the manager time to his position and whether he could be sacked, some shock contenders are in the running to replace him.
SportsLens have compiled a list of candidates to succeed Beale in the Ibrox dugout, with former Rangers defender Kevin Muscat at the head of the betting.
Muscat, who won the Treble as a player with the Light Blues in 2002/03, has had a strong start to his managerial career.
He won two domestic championships with Melbourne Victory in his homeland and has now followed in the footsteps of none other than former Celtic boss Ange Postecoglou by taking up post at Yokohama F. Marinos in Japan, leading them to the 2022 league title.
Sandwiched in between was a short stint with Belgian club Sint-Truiden where he struggled.
Muscat, 50, who won 52 caps for Australia, is listed at 7/2 to take over from Beale.
Former Leeds, Red Bull Salzburg and RB Leipzig head coach Jesse Marsch, who at one point was mooted as a potential next Celtic manager, is second in the running at 7/1.
He leads a number of former Premier League managers who feature among the runners including Ralph Hassenhuttl (8/1), Marcelo Bielsa (10/1) and Graham Potter (14/1).
Kjetil Knutsen, another name linked with the Celtic manager’s job and who has won plaudits for his style of play with Bodo/Glimt, is also prominent in the betting at 9/1. Ibrox cult hero Rino Gattuso is high in the market at 12/1.
After the way that he ditched QPR in mid-season Beale will struggle to find a club in England which could leave him jostling with Kenny Miller, Neil McCann and Lee McCulloch for slots on BBC Scotland discussing the Ibrox banter with Kenny Macintyre.