Beale backs Ibrox men to banish Malmo demons with Champions display
Former assistant manager certain Rangers won’t fall at first hurdle as Europe’s elite stage beckons
THE black mark on the record stands out as an anomaly and a costly mistake. It is one that Michael Beale is confident Rangers won’t repeat and will rectify at the first time of asking.
The progression of the club, both on and off the park, that Beale saw Steven Gerrard drive would not have been possible without their exploits in European competition.
As games and ties were won, points and pounds were earned. Reputations were built and others restored as Rangers recovered from the farce of Progres to be a force at Europa League level.
In each of their first three seasons, there was a frustration that they did not go further as a group stage exit was followed by defeats to Bayer Leverkusen and Sparta Prague.
In term four, Rangers saw their Champions League dream shattered by Malmo. After so much success, it was a setback that was hard to fathom.
It ultimately allowed Giovanni van Bronckhorst to guide his side all the way to Seville but an abject Premiership title defence leaves Rangers facing another qualifying campaign next month.
Van Bronckhorst will discover his first opponents on Monday. This time around, Beale is sure Rangers will be able to get the job done.
“It was a hugely disappointing time because the potential of the team was better than the results we got,” Beale, now the manager of Queens Park Rangers, said of the exit to Malmo that was confirmed on a wretched night at Ibrox. “We had it in our hands so we take full responsibility for that as a management team.
“We were playing a team that was 15 or 16 games into their season. That’s not an excuse, it’s a fact.
“Hopefully they don’t get that kind of draw again because naturally we had the overhang of some suspensions from the year before and one or two players not returning from international duty.
“So we weren’t in a fantastic place but we still had enough to win that game. We said it at the time, we stand by it, so it was disappointing.
“This year it’s disappointing they’re not going in direct but you’d have to say with the form they’ve shown in Europe, they should get through.
“I worked out that the final in Seville was the 64th game the club has played in Europe over four years.
“That’s an unbelievable amount. Someone like Goldson has probably played all of them.
“If you have that amount of European appearances over your career you’d be happy.
“So at Champions League qualifying level – which is Europe League level really – they have a very, very experienced squad at that level. Therefore they feel comfortable at that level and they are impressing.
“I’ll be cheering them on again when the qualifiers come round and I’ve got a feeling they will make the groups this year.”
The work that Gerrard and Beale, alongside Gary McAllister and Tom Culshaw, put in at Ibrox saw the foundations laid but few would have thought a run to Seville would have been possible just months after Van Bronckhorst’s appointment as boss.
The shoot-out defeat to Eintracht Frankfurt still stings the Dutchman and his players but it also acts as motivation as supporters, and those who played such a crucial part in the process,
We were playing a team 15 or 16 games into their season. That’s not an excuse, it’s a fact
prepare to watch on during another shot at glory.
Beale said: “No jealously - I was just so proud. We even had a Rangers party in my house with my children for the final. We got balloons and everything.
“It was just real pride and pride for the players. Listen, I thought they were fulfilling what I thought they could fulfil.
“That’s the big thing. The players who came in, you’re
telling them they can fulfil this and sometimes when they first come in they look at you like you’re crazy.
“But they have now gone on and achieved that. They were so unlucky on the night but maybe that’s in line with Scottish teams in Europe in general, so close but yet so far away. It was one kick of a ball.
“I was so proud. I followed the journey. I think Gio did a great job and it’s his team now, certainly it’s his team when I watch them play and I think he can be proud of the achievement of getting to the final and getting so close.
“Now they have to take that frustration into this season and put it into their domestic campaign.
“Ange (Postecoglou) has done a fantastic job and is such a nice guy. But I don’t see anyone stronger than Rangers. I’m biased, I still see the Rangers squad as the strongest squad.”
The opening weeks of the campaign could shape the season to follow and Van Bronckhorst is well aware of the ramifications of another premature exit from the Champions League. This term, it is even more defined thanks to Celtic’s guaranteed group stage berth.
Rangers can rightly once again expect to take their seat at the top table of the European game. It is a prospect that is now possible thanks to the work of so many over so long.
“We had a vision and we recruited to towards that vision,” Beale said of Rangers’ rise and rise in the years since Gerrard’s arrival in 2018. “We stayed strong when we had some difficult moments.
“If you go back to Steven’s first interview where he talked about having ‘bumps in the road’ and there were a few big bumps along the way!
“But we stayed strong with our ideas. We didn’t listen to the background noise and we recruited for a system.
“If you think of some of the recruitment we did and the prices we paid for them players like your Glen Kamaras, your Calvin Basseys and your Joe Aribos, at times we had to go through the waves of their development. But they have certainly come out the other side and are giving good value now.
“I think Rangers are in a very strong position with their current squad and how the club is viewed outside compared to when Steven started in 2018. That’s all you can do as a manager and a coach.
“A lot is said when you leave clubs. But everyone that was there as part of Rangers is part of us moving forward now.”