Ferguson Left Stunned: Potential Beale Developments Post-Rangers Are Beyond Belief
Derek Ferguson has pondered whether posts talking up Micheal Beale’s abilities at Rangers in the past might have come directly from source amid “absolutely ridiculous” developments.
Beale was sacked by Sunderland after only 12 games in charge at the Stadium of Light on 19 February, having been dismissed as Rangers manager in September.
It was suggested a day later that Beale had been using a burner account on Twitter to endorse posts that were favourable about him and defending what appeared to be a refusal to shake the hand of Trai Hume when he substituted him off.
On February 20, the Second Tier podcast – using evidence from the What The Falk Podcast – showed Beale’s links to Player ID, whose now-deleted account was seemingly the one supporting pro-Beale stances.
Ferguson is now wondering if those online talking up Beale when he was assistant to Steven Gerrard, before he later took on the full role, might have come from the man himself.
Speaking exclusively to Ibrox News, he said: “There’s stuff that’s come out with this Twitter account.
“As soon as I heard that, the first thing that came into my mind – because we go back a few years when Steven Gerrard was in charge – and what we were hearing at the time is that Michael Beale was the genius behind that, the tactician it was all down to him.
“And that starts to get you thinking, well on these Twitter accounts is someone putting something out there because how all of a sudden are we getting told he’s a brilliant coach, he’s this and that, he’s the brains behind Steven Gerrard. So was he putting stuff out back then? I don’t know. But if that’s proven to be right it’s absolutely ridiculous.
“Steven Gerrard was an experienced player, an inexperienced manager, but what he commanded was respect. And I think every time you listen to Steven Gerrard speaking it was respectful, it was precise, it wasn’t like when you listen to Michael Beale.”
We have to hasten to add at this juncture that there is no proof that Beale has used a burner account on Twitter nor is there any proof he had access to the aforementioned account.
However, the whole thing looks pretty suspect, especially at a time when Beale’s come in for extensive criticism from the fanbases at Rangers and Sunderland.
Hindsight is a great thing but the truth is that, despite what success he might have had as an assistant working for Gerrard, Beale was not the right fit as the number one at Ibrox.
Luckily for Rangers fans, it’s worked out quite well with Philippe Clement doing an absolutely superb job since succeeding Beale.
In other Rangers news, Philippe Clement has received a fitness boost at Ibrox.