MICHAEL BEALE says that recruitment at Rangers is now ‘more simple’ since the departure of sporting director Ross Wilson, with the Ibrox manager revealing he has always had a huge influence over the players brought into the club since he returned to Ibrox.
Wilson was heavily criticised by sections of the Rangers support over the club’s transfer business and was the subject of several protests prior to his departure to join English Premier League club Nottingham Forest earlier this month.
But Beale says that Wilson was never fully in charge of recruitment, but that the process of identifying talent and persuading them to join the club is now less complicated with less people to consult.
"Recruitment has become a bit more simple since Ross left purely because there's one less person there,” Beale said. “But when we were together he was a really strong ally.
“I wish him well at Nottingham Forest but he is at Nottingham Forest so just have to get on with managing Rangers. "I want to have a big influence on the players I coach every day. If I am going to be judged on the outcome, I want to have a big influence on the players every day or at least be a huge part of the conversation about which players come in.
“I wouldn't want to work somewhere the players were put on me because you have to work with them every day and ultimately you are going to be judged on how that team performs and moves around the park together.
“For the ideas I have in my head for Rangers and where I want to take it, I articulate that outwards and I am part of recruitment.
“I was ‘co-in charge’ of it anyway so it is not just Ross Wilson decides or Mick Beale decides. It is a committee, but the players we recommend and the finances still have to go in front of the board.
“We work under a budget. The idea it is down to one person is really far-fetched. I have been here an assistant and Steven (Gerrard) was heavily involved in recruitment then, and it was all a group coming together. That is very much the case.
“At Liverpool, I was heavily involved in recruitment and here before. I have just come through a summer window at QPR where I had to work with very little and make the most of it and we were quite successful until I left there, and I have just come out of a window where the two players we have signed [that] everybody is really positive on. It's something I like to do.”
Despite enjoying shouldering the responsibility for recruitment, Beale says he will be happy to work with Wilson’s successor if and when the Rangers board manage to replace him.
“Listen, what is a Director of Football’s job, or a Sporting Director or a Technical Director, whatever you want to call it?” he said.
“In every club it is different. What is important is that if John (Bennett) and the rest of the board deem that they need someone safeguarding the club, whether that is overseeing the first team, overseeing the academy or the women or overseeing a certain part, it is done.
“That is about the continuity of the club, it is about making sure the direction the board want the club to go in, the budget they want the club to run under, that guy manages that.
“For me, what was Ross? He was someone who was a sounding board who kept me positive in times when maybe I was feeling the pressure of a result or of contract things, players coming in.
“He is not there now but what I would say is I have a fantastic relationship with Stewart (Robertson) and lots of members of the board and certainly John going into his new role.
“So, I am happy with what the club decide.”
