Michael Beale admits Rangers will need favours from their Scottish Premiership rivals if they’re to rescue their title dream from Celtic.
The new boss kicks off his Ibrox reign for real on Thursday night as Gers host Hibs at Ibrox. There’s a daunting challenge ahead for the former QPR boss, with the Light Blues trailing Ange Postecoglou’s team by a massive nine points. Beale, though, has been careful not to make any bold predictions about chasing the Hoops down given the way the champions have been swatting aside domestic opposition,
But he has confessed his side are going to need a helping hand from somewhere if they’re to match the Parkhead outfit’s remarkable recovery from last season, when Celtic overturned a six-point deficit to clinch the crown. Steven Gerrard’s former assistant - who dropped a cryptic teaser yesterday when he revealed he’s set to dish out new deals to kid defender Leon King and a “senior” first-team star - said: “They need to start winning football matches, if i’m honest.
“All that (title) talk is miles ahead. This time last year a similar points lead was overturned by more points than is required to turn this around.
“But let’s be honest about it. Ange and his team at the moment, no-one is beating them. So it’s important that, yeah, if we win our games and give ourselves an opportunity in the derbies to beat them. Great. But also we need some other teams to chip away at them as well.”
Beale wasn’t giving much away on the identity of the mystery player who is set to agree fresh terms alongside King other than to confirm it’s not Ryan Kent or one of his Scottish contingent.
But he hinted there could be a way for Kent and Alfredo Morelos to secure a longer stay in Glasgow amid stalled contract talks.
Chairman Douglas Park appeared to hint at last week’s AGM that negotiations had broken down over the pair’s “unattainable” deal demands. But Beale reckons there could be a way to resolve the issue - so long as they can prove they’re worth what they’re asking for.
“With every player, he’s got to be value for money,” said the manager. "The most important thing at the minute is the two boys get on doing what they do best - playing football.
“I think I’m the ideal person to manage both players because of the previous relationship and having seen them at their best. They can get that back very, very quickly, starting tomorrow night. So let’s take another review in the coming days.
“But I’m really optimistic that they can go and prove that they should be here. And in terms of finances and that, they’ve obviously got very good agents. We’re very strong on our side and we’ll probably meet somewhere in the middle.”
But Beale insists he won’t rush a decision on they duo’s futures. He added: “The management has changed as well and with a management change you don’t know if the players are going to be more happy or less happy and the time for us to assess that is probably in the January window when we have five or six or seven games out of the way.
“Certainly I think players only want to be at clubs that are moving forward. And coaches only want players that are moving forward as well. At the moment, with me coming in all of that is a little bit up in the air so I don’t think right now is the moment to be discussing it. In five or six games' time when we are sat discussing it we will either be in good health or bad health and those two players’ situation may follow that as well.”
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