The here and now will be Michael Beale’s immediate priority at Rangers but it is no secret that the Englishman will be casting one eye towards next season and his first full campaign in charge at Ibrox.
With a significant number of first-team regulars out of contract at the end of the season and a new man in charge, it surely will not be long before Beale begins stamping his authority on the Glasgow giants’ squad.
Alex McLeish, the former Rangers boss, believes it is of the utmost importance that Beale gets the ball rolling with regards to recruitment sooner rather than later. Overhauling their rivals and reclaiming their cinch Premiership crown will require forward planning – something he knows only too well – and he insists the current occupant of the Ibrox hot-seat cannot be afraid to wield the axe in a bid to overhaul his squad.
McLeish explained: “It’s about evaluating...in the Helicopter Sunday season, we managed to bring in some players in advance, whereas after the Treble-winning season, three weeks before training started we were bring players in and for me, that preparation never works.
“I knew it would be difficult. We brought in good players but they were on the other side of their peak physical powers. They just didn’t have the athleticism to do what we’d done previously.
“Recruitment is the most important thing. You see [Pep] Guardiola, he is bringing the best players in the world to Man City. It is no secret, obviously he is a fantastic coach as well. One of the top in the world. But it is definitely no secret that the recruitment is supreme.
“Sometimes you just can’t afford it, or you might have chosen the wrong players. I remember [former Rangers owner] David Murray saying that if you bring someone in and you don’t feel he is right, then get rid as quick as possible and change it as quick as possible. That was the lesson I learned in terms of recruitment.
“Starting at Motherwell back in the day I inherited a great team from Tommy McLean and we ended up sandwiched by Rangers and Celtic in the top three – and then at the start of the next season we have lost 10 players through injury and retirement. Tommy Coyne, guys like that. All of a sudden you realise what recruitment is all about. It is massive.”
Naturally, Beale’s own moves in the transfer market will be compared to his opposite number across the city. It is no secret that Ange Postecoglou’s recruitment has galvanised Celtic since the Greek-Australian first arrived in Scotland in the summer of 2021 and now it is down to the Rangers manager to respond in kind.
The Celtic manager was something of an unknown quantity to most when he first pitched up in Glasgow’s east end – but the former Australia manager first appeared on McLeish’s radar long before that.
“A mate of mine, we went to Aberdeen together on the train way back when we were 17,” McLeish recalled. “Jim Leighton was on the train too.
“This lad, Dougie Brown, his dad famously played for the Clyde team that beat Rangers many years ago, but he did not quite make it at Aberdeen. He emigrated to Australia and played for a team called Melbourne Hellas.
“Who was his team-mate? Postecoglou. ‘Alex, I just telt him – you get up that wing and put the ball in the box and I will be the end of it – and we will be a partnership!’ Great wee story.
“He then went on to say that every team he went to he has improved. And I know nowadays the managers don’t do recruitment themselves, they have guys doing the algorithms and logarithms. But at the same time you know who the top players are in the world.
“And not everyone can just bring them to the club. That’s where sometimes you have to be a little bit more shrewd. And Postecoglou’s knowledge of these players throughout the world and where he’s been has been excellent. It has been great recruitment.”
