Rangers transfer news: Rangers appoint Michael Beale as new manager

Signs deal till 2026 

Rangers have confirmed the appointment of Michael Beale as the club’s new first team manager after the coach signed a deal until 2026 with the Scottish Premiership side. The former Queen’s Park Rangers manager steps into the role as a direct replacement to Giovanni van Bronckhorst, who was sacked by the Glasgow club earlier in the month. 

“I am hugely proud, it is a wonderful, wonderful football club, it is an institution,” said Beale in a club statement on the Rangers website. “For everyone that works here it is a huge privilege, but to be the manager of this football club, that is extremely special. Some wonderful people have sat in this chair prior to me, and I am hugely proud to be the person sat here now.”

Beale has plenty of experience working at Rangers, having been assistant manager to Steven Gerrard during his three years in charge of the Scottish club. In that time Beale helped Gerrard to win the club its first Scottish Premiership title in nine years, ending Celtic’s dominance of the Scottish top-flight. Beale then followed Gerrard to Aston Villa in 2021, but departed earlier this year to become the head coach of QPR in the English Championship. 

The highly-regarded head coach was courted by Wolverhampton Wanderers earlier in the season, but publicly rejected the opportunity to take up a managerial job in the Premier League. As such, Beale’s decision to jump ship just a few months later for Rangers has left a number of QPR fans a little puzzled, to say the least. 

“Naturally we are hugely disappointed to lose Mick,” said QPR director of football, Les Ferdinand. “Our extensive research when we were looking for a new head coach highlighted him as being very-much aligned with the direction we are moving in as a football club. The start to the season we have made, coupled with very attractive football being played, gave us cause for optimism as we looked to build on the previous three seasons. That optimism remains but there is no doubt it is a blow to lose Mick so soon into his tenure.”

Beale will now have an extensive winter break and January transfer window to come to terms with the task that stands before him. Taking over a Rangers side that have suffered a poor start to the season, Beale and his side will have to make up a nine-point gap on Celtic in the second half of the league campaign if they hope to reclaim the Scottish top-flight title in May.

Rangers hoping to return to the past to rebuild their future

Rangers will undoubtedly be delighted to have appointed Beale, who was widely regarded to play a large part in Gerrard’s success at the Ibrox club. During their time in Glasgow, Rangers were able to wrestle control of the Premiership from Celtic’s grasp to win their first league title since 2012 in 2021 without losing a single game. 

While Rangers’ run to the Europa League final was under Van Bronckhorst, many of the players and tactics that were used came from Gerrard and Beale’s time at the club. Which was only further highlighted by the Dutch manager’s struggles to match the records set by the previous managerial team. Over the course of 68 games at the club, Van Bronckhorst averaged 2.01 points per game, which proved to be too low to challenge for the Premiership title last season, while just 14 wins from his first 27 games of this season ultimately led to the Dutch manager being sacked by the Ibrox club. 

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