Let Michael Beale copy Ange and Rangers will reap rewards following a man who knows what he wants – Kenny Miller
Have Michael Beale copy Ange Postecoglou and he can help Rangers topple Celtic
I don’t think Rangers need to rush a new athletic director. Ross Wilson resigned from Nottingham Forest last week, leaving a huge void at Ibrox. All conversations revolved around who will replace him. Michael came out and said he can mentor both jobs on short notice. He would want that because it gives him more control in relation to a manager and can dictate who comes in.
If you look at the whole city, Ange didn’t have a sporting director and did most of his own recruiting. Ange’s influence has been a huge determining factor in the players he has signed. You can see that. How many of these players would the folks at Celtic have known if it weren’t for Ange. He knew the players, their characters and what they could do. As a result, most of Celtic’s signings have turned out well. I don’t think there’s any doubt that Michael can do the same.
Beale knows who he wants. When you look at the two players he signed, Todd Cantwell and Nicolas Raskin, you can see why they were signed. Having more control would probably be a good thing for the manager. It’s his job to take power away from Celtic.
Rangers don’t want to rush a big decision on the sporting director’s front. If they’re going to fill the role, it has to be the right person and the right fit for the direction Rangers want to go in the longer term. So there is continuity and when another manager comes along you don’t have to tear everything apart and start over.
Rangers’ summer recruiting will already be in full swing – Michael and Ross would have been working on it. Michael knows who he wants and will just try to get the deals across the line. If he can get the players he wants then there are no excuses. He can come back stronger next season.
Rangers need to be refreshed and improved – and next season the league needs to be won. How will Wilson’s time at Rangers be viewed? It worked for me. He was sporting director when Rangers won 55 and Celtic stopped 10 straight.
There was a Scottish Cup win – the first in 12 years – and a fifth European final. They were possibly just one shot away from the team’s second European trophy.
Ross came in during Steven Gerrard’s time as the club built up to try and be a winning team again. They have put the club back in a position where Rangers are competitive again, no matter how this season goes. Ross oversaw much of the rebuild and there were some successes, like Calvin Bassey and Joe Aribo.
I understand the frustration of the fans who expected Rangers to continue after winning the league. It never quite happened. Celtic came straight back under Ange and dominated. I feel like some of the criticism Ross received early in the season was harsh because it wasn’t just his fault.
It definitely wouldn’t be like Wilson telling Giovanni van Bronckhorst or Gerrard who they would sign. It would have been a collaboration and it’s the same with Beale on club recruitment. If you go through all of last summer’s signings, you could probably find all the holes. There have been a few summers where the signings haven’t been that great.
The fans jumped at that. Van Bronckhorst got it in the neck, then he was substituted. Supporters couldn’t really appeal to Michael as he has won the most games alongside Celtic. So the finger was pointed at the board and the sports director.
If Rangers were at the top of the league, many fans wouldn’t care about recruitment. If your team is at the top of the league, it can paint over the cracks. There’s no doubt Ross will think about it.
Mistakes have been made, but being a sporting director is a job where you don’t do everything right. I’m sure everyone at Club Ross in Nottingham Forest will be wishing them well. Rangers now need to move on and make sure the mistakes of the last two summers aren’t repeated because there needs to be an answer and the starting XI needs to be improved.