The Rise and Fall of Michael Beale
Michael Beale hasn’t had an ideal 2023/2024 season. Beale was sacked by Rangers after a poor start to the season that saw them crash out of the Champions League in humiliating fashion 7-3 on aggregate and lose three of their first seven league games. He was only in charge of the Ibrox club for ten months and failed to win any silverware during his tenure.
The last five months in football have been tough for Michael Beale as he was recently sacked from Sunderland after just 12 games in charge, only managing to win four of those. The appointment of the Englishman wasn’t received well by the Sunderland support as they were disappointed that Tony Mowbray, who was a fan favourite got dismissed from his position despite being 6th in the league and finishing in the Championship play-offs last season.
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24 hours after Beale’s second sacking of the season, there was speculation linking him to a now deleted burner account on X (formerly known as Twitter), called Player ID, that would strongly defend his record as a manager and criticise the Sunderland faithful, whilst he was still in charge of the club.
In Beale’s final game in charge of the Black Cats, he came under fire for ignoring full-back Trai Hume’s handshake as he was coming off the pitch – he claimed he didn’t see him.
Awful.
— Roker Report (@RokerReport) February 17, 2024
However, the 43-year-old used to be regarded as one of the brightest coaches in the British game, where he coached at Chelsea and Liverpool’s academy, and had a six-month spell as assistant manager at Brazilian side São Paulo. In 2018, Beale was appointed as Steven Gerrard’s first team coach at Rangers, and he played a role behind the scenes in helping the club secure their 55th league title.
Former Rangers player Andy Halliday played under Gerrard and his coaching team for two seasons praised Beale as a coach, saying: “He’s probably the best coach I’ve worked under.” Beale was always lauded for his coaching abilities, with some supporters believing that he was supposedly ‘the brains behind Gerrard.’
Gerrard was appointed as Aston Villa manager in 2021 and Beale joined him for six months before taking his first managerial job at QPR. He had a dream start and were top of the Championship after 16 games, and he attracted the attention of Premier League outfit Wolves – who he turned down.
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Only weeks before he left QPR to take charge of Rangers, Beale attended a Rangers game at Ibrox, even though he was the favourite to replace under pressure manager Giovanni van Bronckhorst. This was a move that didn’t go down well with van Bronckhorst, who finally spoke out about that controversial appearance from the Londoner.
He told FourFourTwo: “I don’t think you should really do that as a fellow manager. You shouldn’t sit in the stands at a match when your colleague is feeling the pressure at that moment. I would never have done that.” Former Rangers player Derek Ferguson was on the Open Goal YouTube channel and labeled Beale a ‘snake’ for turning up to Ibrox that day.
There is a big difference between being a coach and a manager and Beale has proved that as he’s flopped twice at two massive football clubs. His reputation as a manager is at an all time low. Many thought he would go on to be a huge success as one, due to his credentials as a coach, but that’s not turned out to be the case. Perhaps, it may be best for Beale to go back being part of a backroom team, as football management appears to not be his thing.
By: Scott Bradley / @ScottBradleyX
Featured Image: Bryn Lennon – Getty Images