Antonio Colak and Scott Arfield. These are two of the decisions that currently haunt Michael Beale, simply because he wasn’t interested in being ‘wrong’.
See, Michael Beale as well as anyone else knows these two are outstanding players, one an outstanding finisher, the other a brilliant worker, gritter, grafter and link man.
But the biggest galling ridiculousness of what Beale has done remains the farcical decision to sell Antonio for £2.5M and sign an inferior version in Cyriel Dessers for £3.5M more.
Why?
Stubbornness.
Michael Beale wants to be right – he can’t handle the idea that he’s wrong, or that someone else’s ideas are better than his.
Michael Beale didn’t want to win with Colak and Scotty, because they weren’t his signings – no, he wanted to win with his, with players he brought in.
He wasn’t thinking about Rangers, he was thinking about his own ego.
Unlike the humble Giovanni van Bronckhorst, who took Gerrard’s team and only signed a few players that January, going to Sevilla and winning the cup basically with Stevie’s team, Beale refused that path.
He wanted to be praised for his team, his work. He didn’t want the best for the club, he wanted the best for his career.
It wouldn’t look as good for him if he took a good group of existing players and had success with them – instead he wanted to sign his own group, getting rid of the lot and have success with that.
All bar the defence, and here’s another dichotomy.
Beale wanted HIS midfield, HIS attack, and had no interest in fixing the one part of the team that REALLY needed it. This is the one area we NEEDED that surgery, but Beale’s bizarre football personality wasn’t interested in solving it.
So what are we now left with?
Arfield tearing up the MLS, Hagi in LaLiga, Colak scoring winners in Italy, while Dessers, Lammers, Danilo and Sima stumble in the dark at Ibrox at a cost of £15M. Even Fashion is having a good time in Saudi.
Michael Beale’s judgement has been appalling, but a lot of it is pure arrogance.
We understand putting your imprint on a team, totally get that, and we’re not condemning a manager for putting their stamp on a team – but doing it to the cost of getting rid of that team’s best players and just signing players who aren’t them?
That’s not in Rangers’ interests.
Oh what damage that boy has done.