It was interesting to see Michael Beale copying Celtic’s huddle on the pitch after the final whistle at Hampden last weekend. But the Rangers manager should be looking to take a leaf out of Ange Postecoglou’s book in far more meaningful ways.
There’s always a huge fall out after a derby defeat and it’s magnified a million times when it comes in a cup final – especially when one of the teams has been played off the pitch. Rangers went into the game in bullish mood, talking up their chances, firing barbs across the city and talking a good game. A few days later we have the Ibrox manager talking about battling ‘against the odds’ and facing a total rebuild in the summer.
Talk about a wild ride. Beale has spoken about standards at his club but I didn’t see those standards when the Rangers team refused to hang about to see Celtic go up and get their winners’ medals. I also didn’t see it when he held the group meeting on the Hampden pitch after the game, which was clearly a show for the supporters, when the inquest should have gone on behind closed doors.
That is the big lesson Beale should learn from this damaging week. The pandering to the masses has been good knock-about fun but in the long term it doesn’t do him any good.
We’ve had the ‘lucky man’ stuff that will continue to haunt him as long as Postecoglou is on top and the ‘them’ jibe didn’t do much good either. There’s been some growing grumbling about the financial gap to Celtic as well and it got louder this week.
I said last week you only have to look at how Martin O’Neill handled stepping into the Glasgow goldfish bowl with his ‘Rangers are the benchmark’ stuff. He didn’t talk about the money situation, he was on about the teams. Rangers had won the league by a mile the year before he came in and he was still talking about benchmarks when we were out of sight.
Beale came in all guns blazing but now the penny seems to have dropped. But there’s no use moaning about money or injuries, or whatever excuses get rolled out.
He only needs to look at the job Postecoglou has done at Celtic. Who inherited a tougher job?
When Postecoglou arrived in Scotland he was right up against it. He was dismissed as a nobody by folk who refused to research his stellar career. The Celtic squad was on its knees, players were desperate to leave and Rangers had won the title by the length of the Clyde.
That really was a total rebuild. When Beale came back to Rangers he talked about picking up a squad who were European finalists a few months earlier. Now it’s back to square one?
There wasn’t a peep out of Postecoglou back then either. He had to quietly go about revolutionising his squad while still winning games. He’s been hailed from all quarters now, but I don’t actually think he got enough credit for winning the league last season.
Talk about winning against all odds. But it just shows how the balance can be tipped.
I actually don’t think Rangers have gone from being world beaters to no-hopers in the space of a week. As usual, the truth lies somewhere in between.
But I also don’t think there should be this realisation Beale has a tough gig on his hands just because they lose the League Cup Final. Beale ALWAYS had a huge task ahead of him.
Celtic look stronger in just about every department. And the scary thing for Rangers is, while Sunday was a fairly comfortable win, I don’t think Postecoglou’s side were quite at their best and there could be more levels to come. It will be up to Beale to keep up and try to be competitive, but there’s no doubt he’ll need help.
It’s not that Rangers have not had money – it’s just that they’ve not used it wisely. They can point at the amount of cash spent by Celtic but they have also brought a lot in on sales.
Postecoglou has balanced the books but he’s also barely wasted a penny. The big money arrivals have all done the business and the bargain buys have looked like steals. Cameron Carter-Vickers might gave cost £6m but he’s been value for money, but then look at the likes of Reo Hatate, who cost less than Rabbi Matondo.
It’s not just about spending – it’s about spending better. That is an issue higher up than Beale. I still can’t believe Rangers haven’t sorted out the futures of Ryan Kent and Alfredo Morelos and there has to be serious questions asked if they leave for free in the summer.
Beale has managed to get more of a tune out of Morelos but still doesn’t look in top condition and although he got his goal on Sunday, he never really troubled the Celtic centre backs. He would still need replaced though and it’s the same all over the pitch.
Beale doesn’t seem to lack confidence and he’s done a lot of talking since he come in. But he went from sounding like Mourinho to starting to come across more like Pedro – when he really should be taking his inspiration from Postecoglou.
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