Ibrox Noise regulars will be well aware that while this Rangers site has great admiration for the job Michael Beale does, we pull no punches with the mince he frequently spouts in the media. He’s lied many times, been tabloid, even at times graceless and ‘unprofessional’, and we are not wrong to call that out.
We are, however, delighted with his all-round performance during and since the Partick win. Not only did he produce an outstanding and shining piece of sportsmanship which has come under huge praise from the whole of British football, even including from sections of that lot across the city, but he took full blame for the performance at Ibrox itself and suggested he’d simply got it wrong.
He even went as far as to tactically explain the problem, which, in a nutshell, was too many attackers on the pitch meant the midfield and front wasn’t pressing at all – all players were instead seeking the ball for attacking and weren’t pressing the ball when in retreat. This meant when the side DID have the ball, we were far too narrow and weren’t providing overlaps or width.
In short, his admitted his selection was completely wrong and didn’t work.
He made changes at half time which did improve things, even if we rode our luck a bit.
The point?
Beale has done himself very well indeed the past 24 hours, taking the heat off the players with a decent explanation as to why, while also being widely-lauded for his gesture during the match itself which has seen Ibrox Noise inundated with praise from other teams’ fans.
There is no question having a few allies in Scottish football is no bad thing, and Beale’s gesture has softened a bit of the ice between clubs, particularly to us, and that could be helpful in the future. It also meant there was no ugly press aimed at Rangers after the unfortunate events which led to Tillman’s goal.
He’s spouted many nonsense comments since joining Rangers and we still don’t believe a sizable chunk of what he says (simply because he’s often failed to deliver on statements and promises), but we do little but commend him for representing the club and the fans so well over the past day or so.
We will continue to praise and criticise where applicable, but Beale can walk tall at the moment.