Michael Beale says his recent return to watch Rangers had nothing to do with potentially taking over from Gio van Bronckhorst - insisting he was just there to catch up with some old friends.
Beale is making a name for himself at management after breaking off from Steven Gerrard to take over QPR. Despite a recent dip in form he has them looking good for a playoff spot and potentially promotion to the Premier League - which has in turn led to links with a number of top jobs.
He knocked back an approach from Wolverhampton Wanderers to stay with the west London club and has been linked with a potential return to Ibrox - something that has been floated increasingly recently with Van Bronckhorst under intense pressure. He returned to watch the 4-1 win over Aberdeen last weekend, and previous quotes suggesting he would "love to" manage the club one day had some fans putting two and two together.
But Beale insists his visit had nothing to do with part of a Van Bronckhorst succession plan as he told Sky Sports: "It's a wonderful club, I had a wonderful time there and obviously my daughter was born there as well. My family loved it.
"We left a year ago this weekend and I hadn't had the chance yet to go back and say goodbye to some people. I'm really friendly with everyone there and I've got a lot of friends in the city in general after living there for the best part of four years.
"It was a visit that was long overdue. It was in the diary for five or six weeks before."
He also expressed his sympathy for Van Bronckhorst, feeling the international break is coming at a good time for the Dutchman if he can get through clashes with Hearts and St Mirren unscathed. He said: "I think the international break may come at a good time for a few managers that are in that situation. It's a long slog, they came back in for pre-season and had to qualify for the Champions League and did fantastically well to do that, beating PSV - sometimes that can get lost.
"They were drawn in a lovely group with Ajax, Napoli and Liverpool but it was a little bit of an unfair group as well. It was rough on them but financially it was huge for the club and the future of the club."
READ NEXT
