As Michael Beale teeters ever closer to the Rangers precipice, across the Scottish Premiership the ears of Kilmarnock’s Derek McInnes will be burning.
Steven Gerrard’s former assistant Beale is a man whose future at Rangers is on the brink and whose managerial reputation is on the verge of collapsing with it.
Taking a sizeable risk to return to Ibrox after being given an opportunity at Queens Park Rangers, Michael Beale now looks so far out of his depth that the Rangers tie around his neck runs the risk of choking him.
What was previously just heavily critical is on the verge of turning nasty. In some corners of the internet – and inside Ibrox – it already has.
There’s a target on his back and, not just for Rangers’ sake, the board are almost certainly duty-bound to act as we roll into another international break.
And there will be few who feel sorry for Michael Beale when they do.
There have been opportunities aplenty for the Englishman whose resistance to Celtic winning the title last season was about as meek as Rangers’ attempts to halt them in both cups.
The relentless soundbites and football geekery have done little to mask what is a manager incapable of inspiring his team to rise to the Rangers occasion or in protecting them from the baying Ibrox mob when they fail to do so.
It’s his team and the confidence is seeping out of it with every misplaced pass.
After a disastrous start to the season – where Champions League qualification failure, a seven point Premiership gap and the signing of several expensive duds hang over the Rangers boss like the skeletal fingers of Death – the manager’s only saving grace is progression to the League Cup semi-finals.
But that Rangers are now favourites to win the League Cup is little to do with Michael Beale and more to do with Kilmarnock manager Derek McInnes.
Derek McInnes a Rangers manager alternative?
The former Rangers midfielder might not be everyone’s cup of tea and after turning down the Ibrox side whilst Aberdeen manager in 2018 there’s a genuine case for telling the Kilmarnock boss he’s already had his chance.
But the ex-Dons coach is five years older and five years wiser and with Rangers now in a more stable position than the Murty-era should Derek McInnes be sounded out now, the chance would likely never come his way again. And he’d know it.
Having overcome Celtic in the League Cup at Rugby Park earlier in the season, it’s an achievement greater than anything Michael Beale has mustered against our Old Firm rivals.
The biggest matches – those v Celtic included – are often overthought and underwhelming as Michael Beale believes his own hype a little too much and risky experiments at key moments cost the club dearly.
With Ibrox once a fortress, emboldened by the fierce expectations of the Rangers fans, we’re now viewed as a soft touch with Beale’s luxury buys now under the intense scrutiny of life at Ibrox.
One man who understands the conditions of Rangers and those expectations is Derek McInnes, and as Michael Beale bemoans fans booing his lacklustre charges at half-time against Aberdeen, it’s a position we’re sure the former Ibrox star would understand wholeheartedly.
Michael Beale might have some overarching vision of a free-flowing Rangers battering ram but the reality is this team has the collective heart of a mouse and we’re being increasingly viewed as a soft touch, and as much as it pains me to say it, a genuine shot at three points.
When we can’t play the football that we so desire and form or injuries dictate our situation, we must be harder to beat.
The foundations of success will come in ensuring we’re no longer viewed as a team who’re timid in a tussle and who’re scared of the expectations of their own supporters.
We have to be able to grind out results and cope with the pressure of going behind.
Derek McInnes might not be the most popular choice amongst Rangers fans, but convince me adding the grit, guts and tactical guile of the Killie boss isn’t a solid alternative to Michael Beale.
