Michael Beale has defended his comments that Rangers were competing "against the odds" to catch Celtic after admitting the club won't be able to spend as much as their Glasgow rivals.
The Rangers boss told after the Hampden showdown between the two clubs that the a major revamp will be needed to catch up with Parkhead club, but later added that the men from Govan will struggle to match the transfer spend. Ange Postecoglou's men defeated the Light Blues 2-1 at Hampden with Kyogo Furuhashi at the double while they hold the advantage at the top of the Premiership.
Those comments sparked a backlash from fans and pundits with Kenny Miller branding Beale's words as an 'excuse'. But Beale has leapt to the defence of his statement, when asked why he made those comments, Beale told BBC Sportsound: "I think that might have been taken out of context.
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“We’re competing against the odds right now because we are behind.
“We’re behind in terms of me being a new manager coming in and we’re clearly behind in the league.
“We’ve just lost a cup final to our biggest rivals so we have to turn the odds, we’re competing against the odds. We’re not level pecking right now that’s why I got the job.
“So we need to turn things around, I’ve done it before as part of a management team that done that."
Beale addressed concerns that Rangers will struggle to splash the cash in the summer, adding: "I’m not worried about the future in terms of the money we’ve got to spend and things like that.
“I made the comment that when we spend less we seem to get more sometimes. I’m optimistic about the future. I’m excited by it but I’m really disappointed by this week.
“It’s important we start to move forward quickly with the decisions we need to make.”
Beale defiantly told how his Rangers side will go "hell for leather" for the remainder of the season.
Beale added: “We are competing the odds in terms of turning it round because the team is behind at the moment. I feel I’m the man for the job I know the players who I want to go on that journey with.
“I know the areas we want to recruit and where we’re going to do it. We’ve got to get to the summer to action it, between know and then, we’ve got 12 league games and a cup quarter final and we need to go hell for leather in every one. And we need to do better.
“I don’t want anyone to think I’m not strong in my convictions moving forward and the club ain’t. We are, we’re aware of the challenges ahead and we’re going after it.”
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