Neil Cutler believes Rangers boss Michael Beale is destined to achieve ‘big things’ as a head coach. He stood out to Cutler in their time together in Steven Gerrard’s staff at Aston Villa.
Gerrard took Beale with him to Birmingham in November 2021 to work as his assistant boss in the Premier League. Beale had held the role at Ibrox during the England icon’s time at the helm in Glasgow, as well. He left Gerrard’s side to take over Queens Park Rangers last June.
Beale would only manage the Championship side for 22 games in all competitions before he replaced Giovanni van Bronckhorst at Rangers. The 42-year-old convinced Gers chiefs of his credentials as a head coach after nine wins and four draws through his 22 fixtures with QPR.
Rangers are still unbeaten under Beale after 11 games after beating Hearts 3-0 at Tynecastle on Wednesday. It marked his eighth win from nine Premiership games, while taking his Gers squad to 22 goals scored. The Ibrox outfit have only conceded eight in the league under him.
Only against Celtic has Beale not managed to oversee a Premiership win after drawing 2-2 in the Old Firm derby. While his Gers teams have kept five clean sheets through nine top-flight games so far. The Glasgow giants only took six through 15 under Van Bronckhorst this term.
Rangers boss Beale quickly impressed Cutler after following Gerrard to Aston Villa
Cutler worked with Beale in Gerrard’s backroom Aston Villa staff having been at the Premier League side since November 2018. He would leave the Birmingham natives in October 2022 when the Villans fired Gerrard. The 42-year-old only won 13 of his 40 games in charge there.
But despite the Villa Park outfit’s difficulties under Gerrard, Beale impressed Cutler with his approach to coaching. The 46-year-old now feels the Gers boss will achieve great feats as a manager. He also felt it would not be long before Beale would try his luck as a head coach.
“I only worked with him for less than a season,” Cutler told talkSPORT. “But it was evident that his knowledge of the game is excellent. He knows exactly what he wants and how he’s going to bring it across, and he’s very good at that.
“The way he plans meticulously, his detail with the way he wants his teams to set up and how they’re going to beat the opposition is very good.
“It was only a matter of time before he was going to be a manager himself and he’s destined to achieve big things because of his drive to achieve and detail within that.”
