Ex-Rangers coach Michael Beale has been explaining his recent visit to Ibrox Stadium amid mounting pressure on Giovanni van Bronckhorst.
The former Steven Gerrard assistant retains a strong bond with the Rangers support and was taking a break from management duties at QPR to come back to the club he left a year ago.
It’s been a whirlwind year for Michael Beale, who now has QPR in the promotion fight after leaving Aston Villa whilst former top man Steven Gerrard has since been sacked from his role at Villa Park.
Michael Beale explains Rangers visit amid Giovanni van Bronckhorst pressure
The visit also came amid claims that Rangers were discussing the possibility of replacing Giovanni van Bronckhorst with Michael Beale should they pull the trigger on the Dutchman.
On top of that, Beale’s visit for the convincing 4-1 win over Aberdeen came amid strong Premier League links with the coach turning down the opportunity to manage Wolves in the English top flight.
But despite all of this, Michael Beale insists his visit back to his old stomping ground was purely for a catch up as he lent his sympathies to Giovanni van Bronckhorst.
“It’s a wonderful club. I had a fantastic time there,” said Michael Beale [Sky Sports].
“We left one-year-ago this weekend. I hadn’t had the chance to go back and say goodbye to some people either.
“I’m really friendly with a lot of people on the board and I’ve got a lot of friends in the city in general after living up there for the best part of four years.
“It was a visit that was long overdue. It was in the diary for five or six weeks before because of the Friday night game.
“I think the international break may come at a good time for a few managers that are in that situation.
“Also, it’s a long slog, they had a great pre-season and they qualified for the Champions League. They did fantastically well to do that, beating PSV. Sometimes that can get lost.
“I thought they were drawn in a lovely group with Ajax, Napoli and Liverpool but a bit of an unfair group as well, so it was rough on him.”
Rangers fans remain big fans of Michael Beale, who has previously stated he’d love to return to as manager, but to anyone taking his recent visit as a suggestion of interest they will be sadly disappointed.
Meanwhile, another manager many Rangers fans are fond of is still on the market.
