He may only have been in the job for four months but it's already a case of "win or bust" for Michael Beale this weekend.
That's the view of pundit Andy Walker who reckons Beale is yet to fully prove he is a better manager than Gio van Bronckhorst. Rangers face Celtic at Parkhead knowing anything other than a win spells goodbye to any residual hopes of raining the runaway league leaders in. Ange Postecoglou's team sit nine points clear and with just eight games left of the season, Beale will know he needs two wins over the Hoops to stand any chance.
The Englishman has picked up the pieces after the whimpering end to Gio van Bronckhorst's tenure but despite winning 15 games out of 16, he has failed to eat into Celtic's gap at the top as the champions have matched them blow for blow, a 2-2 draw at Ibrox the only time this year either side have dropped points. The Australian has turned things on their head since taking over at the beginning of last season and Walker reckons the onus is now on Beale to mastermind a similar turnaround - starting at Celtic Park on Saturday.
He said on Sky Sports: "It's win or bust for Michael Beale. We've just spoken about Ange Postecoglou, when he came in, think back to the enormous gap there was between Celtic and Rangers.
"When Steven Gerrard won that title, it was 25-odd points. What you asked of him in a short space of time was to put together a team in a short space of time that could beat Rangers, and to win a trophy.
"He didn't do just that. He went on and won the title after being behind and also won a League Cup. The only hiccup they have had has been that semi-final defeat to Rangers last season at Hampden.
"That Rangers team was better than the team they have now. It had Joe Aribo who was a huge player, Calvin Bassey was also part of that. This was a Rangers team that had a tremendous run to the Europa League final. Beale has only had one transfer window and he's made some changes to the team but he needs to make more. Celtic are stronger in pretty much every department."
The Ibrox side have improved heavily since Beale replaced Van Bronckhorst but the Dutchman won the Scottish Cup and also led them to a Europa League final where they lost to Eintracht Frankfurt on penalties. And while Walker recognises they are on the up under Beale, he reckons he needs a couple of similar marquee successes to his predecessor.
He added: "To be fair to Van Bronckhorst, he won them a trophy, he got them to a European final, and that money was absolutely essential. So it's a tall order for Michael Beale.
"Look what he's done already. He hasn't lost a game other than Celtic in the League Cup final and the only other points he's dropped in the league were against Celtic at Ibrox when they were 2-1 ahead.
"He has to come up with something that's a bit different that Rangers fans can hang onto. You know what it's like in Glasgow, if you're second, you're last.
"We've seen an improvement in Rangers and Beale needs at least one more transfer window where he has to be successful. You'll always be compared to Celtic, look at what Postecoglou has done in the transfer market. Pretty much every signing has been a success, and that's the very high bar that he has set."
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