QPR sporting director Les Ferdinand has claimed that Rangers boss Michael Beale turned down the chance to manage the club in 2021 – because of his loyalty to Steven Gerrard.
Former Rs and Spurs forward Ferdinand was speaking to Loft For Words about Beale’s controversial exit from Loftus Road in November during the World Cup break.
Les Ferdinand didn’t stand in the way of Michael Beale when Rangers came calling following the sacking of Giovanni van Bronckhorst.
But the appointment of the ex-QPR boss – who was in his first job in senior management with the Championship club – came after Beale had reiterated his commitment to the West London club.
This came amid interest from Premier League Wolves following a spritely start to the season south of the border.
Les Ferdinand in Michael Beale Rangers claim
Speaking about Michael Beale moving to Rangers, Les Ferdinand has claimed that the ex-Liverpool and Chelsea youth coach was offered the Ibrox job when Steven Gerrard jumped ship to Aston Villa.
But Ferdinand also claims that Beale stuck with the former Ibrox manager and joined the backroom team Gerrard formed at Villa.
“The one thing I did know is he’d had a very good time at Rangers with Steven Gerrard, he really enjoyed it up there,” said Les Ferdinand.
“I did find out afterwards that Rangers had offered him the job when he left with Steven, he decided to go with Steven because he felt it was the right thing. I found that out afterwards.
“In terms of the process we went through, and doing the right thing, nobody knew Van Bronckhorst was going to get the sack – they went close to winning the league and they got to a European final and nearly won that so nobody saw him going.
“You have to look at the size of the club he went to. Ok, Wolves were Premier League, but the cynical side of me would say Wolves were in a precarious position.
“Rangers might not win the league but they’ll finish second, he’s gone to a better opportunity for him. Can you blame him for that?
“If that was a player, as much as you don’t want to lose him, if you were getting the right money for him after five months you’d probably say ‘yeh, ok’. You wouldn’t want it, but it happens.
“We got a bit of money for Mick in the end. We didn’t want to lose him, to say we got the process wrong I don’t think we did. If you look at the brand of football we played, where we were, where he was taking us, I think people would agree it was the right choice.”
Michael Beale has quickly set about redressing the fortunes of Rangers at Ibrox whilst Les Ferdinand and QPR toil in the Championship.
Whilst Beale has won 11 of 12 Rangers games, the Rs have sunk to 16th in the English second tier after a 2-1 weekend defeat to Millwall.
Meanwhile, a recent John Souttar update has posed a few Rangers questions.
