Rangers’ latest accounts have revealed that the club paid £1.3m in a payoff to Michael Beale and his backroom staff.
The Gers sacked the stumbling Ibrox boss in October with the club seven points behind Celtic in the Scottish Premiership and having been humiliated in the Champions League qualifiers.
The accounts appear to show that Rangers paid out the eight-figure fee to Michael Beale before moving for ex-Club Brugge and Monaco coach Philippe Clement and now football finance expert Kieran Maguire has provided a bit of context.
Speaking to leading Rangers fan media outlet This is Ibrox, Maguire used the example of Antonio Conte at Spurs to show that comparatively the Michael Beale payoff is simply “the cost of doing business”.
“I think it’s what you’d expect,” said Kieran Maguire. “People might say that £1m is a lot of money; Antonio Conte got £26.5m from Spurs.
“Jose Mourinho has earned £77.5m from Manchester United, Chelsea (twice), Spurs, Real Madrid for being sacked.
“That’s almost the whole of Rangers’ income for a single year. So, it’s the cost of doing business.
“For a club where finishing second is not good enough, you’re going to have to take (a hit).
“There are no guarantees in football and it’s an irritant from the point of view of the fans because things didn’t work out.
“If you look at Celtic’s accounts, they got over £10m for their manager (Ange Postecoglou) going to Spurs, so it could’ve worked out the other way.”
Michael Beale payoff “expected” from Rangers
Whilst Rangers supporters still have a salty taste from the Michael Beale era, the payoff involved in sacking the Englishman doesn’t appear too over the top.
Even if they are an expense the club could’ve done with avoiding.
The figures will also allay the fears of supporters who’d feared an even bigger pay off given the reported £5m it took to sack Giovanni van Bronckhorst and hire the former Ibrox assistant.
Rangers were left with no choice but to part ways with the coach after a series of poor performances and a humiliating home defeat to Aberdeen, who’ve just been hammered 6-0 by Old Firm rivals Celtic in Glasgow.
Whilst there has been an upswing under Belgian boss Clemnet no-one at Rangers is getting carried away and for the time being fan optimism remains cautious.
As for Michael Beale, the former Rangers boss had been linked to an ambitious return to QPR before the London club looked elsewhere.
