Stevie G’s No.2 flops in hotseat
ONCE dubbed the kingmaker, Michael Beale is the latest celebrated coach to discover that being the boss can be a recipe for disaster.
Steven Gerrard was devastated after Beale, the coaching brains when the former Liverpool star managed at Rangers and Aston Villa, cut short his stay in the Midlands to take charge of QPR.
Some observers believe the downturn in Villa’s fortunes which led to Gerrard’s sacking was in part due to Beale no longer being at his side.
“It would take me 15 to 20 years to become as good as Michael Beale as an on-pitch coach delivering sessions daily,” said Gerrard.
Beale was also courted by Wolves before he left QPR to become Gerrard’s successor at Ibrox.
Like Brian Kidd, who helped Sir Alex Ferguson win silverware at Manchester United, and like Sammy Lee, at Sam Allardyce’s side, management at Rangers proved a poisoned chalice.
Former Rangers striker Kyle Lafferty had called Beale “the brains behind it all” when Gerrard prevented Celtic winning a 10th consecutive Scottish Premiership title.
And ex-ibrox midfielder Andy Halliday said: “He is probably the best coach I’ve worked under.”
But when it came to holding the reins of the Glasgow giants, it has been a very different story.
Former Blackburn and Celtic striker Chris Sutton stated: “I think he must have some sort of talent as a coach, but at Rangers he was a bit like a Cockney car salesman going up there with all the chat.”
Some within Ibrox believed that Beale talked the talk, but was not able to walk the walk.
After a 3-1 home defeat against Aberdeen last weekend, which proved to be his final game in charge, Beale said: “The fans want to see results, I get it.
“I understood what I was getting myself involved in when I took the job.”