Inverness Caley Scottish Cup winning boss John Hughes believes Michael Beale could help his old club to another Hampden glory day next month.
Hughes led the Highlanders to their greatest ever triumph in 2015 when they clinched the silverware in an end of season showpiece against Falkirk - after knocking the Parkhead giants out in the semis. And he believes current manager Billy Dodds could follow in his footsteps - if he copies the tactical blue print which Rangers boss Beale used against the champions at Ibrox when his side romped to victory in the final Old Firm game of the season.
Speaking in the latest episode of our Off the Record podcast the former Celtic defender reveals how the penny dropped as he went about his duties as a co-commentator during Beale’s 3-0 win. Hughes said: “Do you want to know something? All good coaches, we all copy. You pick each other’s pockets.
“People might not put their hand up to it and say, ‘I copied him,’. But that’s how you become a good coach. Get your ego out the way. I’ve picked his brains, I’ve done what he has done. He actually helped me tactically.
“I was sitting at that game and that’s exactly what I was thinking. I was sitting saying, ‘If I was Billy Dodds, I wouldn’t be too far away from doing what Michael Beale has done today’. He got that four v three overload with Jack, Raskin, Cantwell and Lundstram against a three man midfield. So it was four v three in the middle.
“I was on co-commentary and I’m not going to tell Ange how to do what he does. But see when Celtic had the ball? If the full-backs went high and wide then Celtic have got a five v four overload! But the Celtic full-backs played in the way. You’re talking about Ralston going in and basically saying to Lundstram, ‘How are you doing? I’m marking you!’.
“No, no, no! Get out, get high, get wide and say to Lundstram, ‘I’ve got a problem here, I’m playing against two’. The Celtic full-backs only got down the side two or three times. That’s the way I saw it.
“Ange beat them in the semi-final by doing it the same way and he’s been very successful playing with inverted full-backs and all that stuff. But I just felt he played into Rangers’ hands. Ange might have a look at that because, all you’ve done, Michael Beale’s got the monkey off his back and you’ve given Rangers encouragement.”
Hughes accepts it’ll be a long shot for lightning to strike twice. But he insists the minnows must head to the national stadium believing they can overcome the odds.
He said: “When I took Celtic on and beat them in the semi-final of the cup, no disrespect, we were a better team than Inverness are right now. We had beat Celtic in the second game of the season that season. So going into that semi-final we had nothing to lose. We went in as massive underdogs as Doddsy’s team will have to do.
“You have to respect them but you have to make sure you’re standing up against them. That has to come from within with a great sense of self belief. You have to understand that you’ll have to suffer. Celtic will dominate the football. But I’ve seen many a game where team’s have suffered. And that will have to be the game plan for Billy Dodds.
“You cannot just say, ‘Listen boys, great achievement for getting here!’. You owe it to yourself, your family and your teammates to say, ‘I’m not accepting that it’s a great achievement just for getting here. I’m not accepting that. I want to go out and give it a right good go!’.”
And Hughes insists, regardless of the outcome at Hampden, Beale is closing the gap on Postecoglou’s treble hunters. He said: “No matter what happens this season - and Celtic will probably go on to win the treble - they are not far away from each other. Trust me on that.
“And I’m delighted we’ve got a guy like Michael Beale and Ange Postecoglou in at these clubs because the two of them are right good football guys. They get it down and pass it. They are tactical. They dominate the ball. I’d like to see a lot more Scottish managers playing that style of football.”
