Michael Beale isn’t exactly the most popular figure at Rangers at the moment.
The former Ibrox manager was entrusted with a £21m transfer budget last summer and blew it on a number of players who’re yet to prove their worth.
But there is an acknowledgement at Ibrox that Rangers’ issues run much deeper than just the club’s relentless turnover of managers with Philippe Clement now picking up the pieces.
Speaking in depth about his time at Rangers, Michael Beale has been out discussing the substantial change in the hierarchy of the club which proceeded his managerial appointment.
But the ex-Rangers gaffer has also been talking about how his hands were tied over the exit of Zambian striker Fashion Sakala.
Beale has also been clarifying the transfer fees paid for Nicolas Raskin and Todd Cantwell in January 2023.
Beale talks Sakala exit
Fashion Sakala has previously taken aim at Michael Beale for the manner of his Rangers exit.
The Zambian striker moved on from the Ibrox club last summer, two years from when he first joined the club from Belgian side KV Oostende.
Saudi Pro League side Al-Fayha stumped up £4m to sign Fashion and last season the striker was the competition’s 4th highest scorer (17)
Only Cristiano Ronaldo (33, Al-Nassr), Aleksandar Mitrovic (26, Al-Hilal) and Abderrazak Hamdallah (19, Al-Ittihad) scored more.
Back in December 2023, Sakala suggested to the Rangers Review that Michael Beale had frozen him out ahead of the season and banished him from the training ground.
“He didn’t talk to me about anything or any transfers,” Sakala said when asked about his deteriorating relationship with Beale.
“He clearly showed me that I wasn’t part of his plans without telling me anything. The time I received a call from Mick Beale was when he told me not to come to the training ground anymore.
“That was hard for me because I didn’t do anything. Players leave clubs but they are not told not to go to the training ground, not told not to be part of the team.
“You can have clubs that can come in for you but still, you are training with the team. I stayed without training with the club for almost two weeks.”
But speaking on the Mindset for Sport podcast, Beale claims he never wanted Sakala to go.
Claiming that he unequivocally wanted Sakala to stay, Beale claims that the finances on offer for both the Zambian and Rangers were too good to turn down.
“The front six players, all the forwards, all left,” Beale said when discussing last season’s summer transfer window.
“Out of those who left the only one that I really didn’t want to leave and I had any power over was Fashion Sakala, who done really well for me.
“But he had an offer to triple his wages and the club had an offer for a player they brought in for free to take the best part of £4m to go.
“So that was frustrating. The other guys all wanted to leave so it wasn’t like you were holding anybody back.”
How much Rangers paid for Cantwell & Raskin
At the same time as Michael Beale was discussing Fashion Sakala, the ex-Rangers manager also clarified some details around Todd Cantwell and Nicolas Raskin.
Rangers are currently trying to get Cantwell off the club’s books but reports at the time of his signing claimed the Gers paid around £1.5m to sign the midfielder from Norwich City.
However, Beale has moved to rebuff these claims and suggested that Rangers didn’t have to pay any transfer fee to bring Todd to Glasgow.
Similarly, currently crocked midfielder Nicolas Raskin reportedly cost Rangers around £1.5m to bring from Standard Liege.
But Beale has refuted the reports and claims that the fee paid was actually only six-figures.
“In the winter we brought in Nicolas Raskin,” said Beale. “A young Belgium U21 international.
“We paid early to get him. It was a free but we paid around £800k to get him.
“And we brought Todd Cantwell in on a completely free transfer.”
Beale has also been talking about his doomed stint in Rangers and talks about the upheaval at the club last year.
“Unfortunately around April time the sporting director left, Ross Wilson,” said Beale.
“Which was a big thing for me because Ross and Stewart Robertson the CEO, they were people I knew from the time I was there from Steven.
“They were two of the guys along with John Bennett the current chairman that met me to speak about me coming back.
“The offer was less than the offer I had at QPR to say so again this was made with the heart but I knew I had those guys around me.
“I also know the academy manager really well and the head of coaching in the academy Zeb Jacobs is someone I identified with the club.
“So I felt I was going back into a club where I knew everybody but around April time Ross left, the CEO Stewart Robertson was leaving, the academy manager was leaving, the chief scouts all left.
“I felt myself in a situation that wasn’t one I would’ve signed up for in the November.”
Michael Beale spent eleven months in charge of Rangers between November 2023 and October 2024.
This was after he spent three-and-a-half years as Steven Gerrard’s assistant at the club.
