Former Rangers boss Michael Beale has spoken about the need to challenge abuse in football as he attacks the ‘snakes’ who have hurt his managerial career.
The former Rangers manager, 44, is currently out of work after a frantic 20 month period where he took charge of QPR, Rangers and Sunderland.
Taking the step up from being assistant coach to Steven Gerrard at Rangers and then Aston Villa, it’s been tumultuous period for the former Liverpool, Chelsea and Sao Paolo coach.
Michael Beale suffered a toxic reaction at the hands of some Rangers fans following his exit from the club.
This was after the coach upset QPR supporters by moving to Ibrox in late 2022 despite previously reiterating his commitment to the Rs.
An ill-advised quick-fire return to Sunderland ended in disaster amid a swell of negativity which blew up on social media in the wake of his sacking from Ibrox.
Since leaving Sunderland in February 2024, Beale is yet to secure another job with his public profile taking a battering as a result.
We’ve been critical of the personal attacks on Beale’s character in the past and now the ex-Rangers manager has been speaking about abuse in the game.
It comes with several players – including Rangers’ Czech winger Vaclav Cerny – coming off social media due to unacceptable attacks from fans.
Michael Beale: ‘Football must tackle abuse’
“I think we have to as an industry think about abuse,” Beale said, whilst talking to the Inside the Academy podcast (1:12:00).
”Because me as a 40-year-old man, I can take it. I’m worried about (young players).
”You talk about Brennan Johnson a couple of weeks ago coming off social media because it’s too much.
”When you keep seeing players come off, how are people getting away with making people feel s*** about themselves?
”Where do people get off doing that? And it’s never people who are achieving, have you noticed that?
”So how do you prepare our young players?
“We talk about players coming out from under the radar then all of a sudden they poke their head out and they’re a top, top player and they take off.”
Michael Beale won’t let ‘snakes’ hold him back
Michael Beale has also been urging young players to keep their support networks small due to ‘snakes’ in the world of football.
The former Rangers manager regrets allowing outside influencers into his set-up and admits the interest in him when he moved into management made him ‘uncomfortable’.
Whilst there’s no inclination surrounding who Beale might be talking about, it’s clear between his journey from QPR, to Rangers, to Sunderland the ex-Gers boss has been let down by people close to him.
At the same time, Beale has hinted at a return to the management fold in the not so distant future.
Insisting that he is only ‘at the start’ of his managerial career, we expect Sunderland won’t be the last time we see the ambitious coach in the dugout.
”It comes back to the awareness of keeping your support network small, because it does just swell,” said Beale.
”Around a couple of the moves I’ve had as a manager I saw loads of snakes and people come out of the woodwork sort of.
”I didn’t like it. It made me uncomfortable.
”Perhaps I would have made better decisions if those people weren’t around but that’s for another time.
”Ultimately, I’m very, very fortunate. I’ve been a manager at QPR, Glasgow Rangers, 52k, Sunderland, 44k in the Championship.
”I’ve worked in the Premier League, I’ve worked in Serie A and I’ve worked in over 60 games in European football in the Europa League and Champions League.
”So 257 games in the system, 77 games as a manager and at 44 I feel that I’m at the start of my career so in that sense I still feel like I’m a young coach.”
