Michael Beale says he will back the Rangers board if they decide NOT to hire a replacement for Ross Wilson.
Former Ibrox sporting director Wilson has joined Nottingham Forest, leaving manager Beale to head up Gers’ crucial recruitment drive this summer. Beale was in Italy speaking to potential signing targets last week and insists he’s comfortable being hands-on in identifying new players and also showing current stars the exit door. Ahead of the trip to Aberdeen, he said: “What is a director of football job, or sporting director, whatever you want to call it?
“What’s important is that if John Bennett (chairman) and the rest of the board think they need someone safeguarding the club that it’s done. It’s about the continuity of the club and going in the direction the board wants. I think it’s important the board decides what is right for their club. Ross was a sounding board for me. He kept me positive. He’s not here now but I have a fantastic relationship with Stewart Robertson (MD) and lots of board members, so I’ll be happy with whatever the club decides.
“I’m a young manager so maybe having someone between me and the board is right for Rangers. But is it the right thing for a new member of staff to come in now, when we’re going into a new window and have already made a lot of our choices?
“That would be more difficult, but whatever the board decides will be for the good of the club. Recruitment has become a bit more simple since Ross left because there’s one less person here. He was a strong ally for me but I have to get on with managing Rangers now.”
Beale is already talking to players he wants in for next season as he looks to get his business done early. A similar way of working has paid off so far for Ange Postecoglou at Celtic and the Ibrox gaffer says he was always going to lead the way on new signings.
In fact, Beale admits he couldn’t work for a club where he wasn’t in sole charge of incomings.
He said: “I was in co-charge when Ross was here and it’s not just Ross or myself who decides. It’s a committee and we recommend players. The finances have to go in front of the board because we work under a budget. The idea that it’s just down to one person is far-fetched.
“It’s about a group of people coming together. Do we always get our first choices? No, because I’d like to get Mason Mount from Chelsea. I’ve worked with him and I like him. But we always have to take an element of risk. Sometimes we have to get a broken child. Sometimes we get a player before he’s flourished and we help them do that.
“You see an opportunity to bring a player here and ask, would he fit? No manager in Scotland gets to buy the finished article.
“That’s why this country has produced fantastic managers because you’ve got to make the most of a small outlay.
“We have to be realistic. Is the next Brazilian golden child coming to Scotland to play for Rangers when there’s lots of other places he could go? We have to recruit in the right areas. We have to know what has worked in the past.
“Recruitment is something I love to do. Even when I was at Chelsea, I was recruiting for the academy. At Liverpool, I was involved and here before. I’ve just come through a summer window at QPR where I had to work with very little and make the most of it. I’ve come out of a window here where the two players we’ve signed (Todd Cantwell and Nico Raskin) everyone is really positive on.
“I want to have a big influence on the players I coach every day. If I’m going to be judged on the outcome, I want to at least be a huge part of the conversation about which players come in.
“With the ideas I have in my head for Rangers and where I want to take the team, I articulate that
outwards and I’m part of that recruitment.”
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