Michael Beale is currently manager of Queens Park Rangers (Picture: Dan Mullan/Getty Images)
Michael Beale is believed to be on the brink of becoming the new manager of Rangers.
The 42-year-old, who was part of Steven Gerrard’s coaching team at Ibrox and Aston Villa before taking charge at Queens Park Rangers, quickly emerged as the favourite to replace Giovanni van Bronckhorst after the Dutchman was sacked on Monday.
Beale cited ‘integrity and loyalty’ as reasons for rejecting the chance to join Wolves last month after taking the Loftus Road club to the top of the Championship.
He said: ‘I’ve been all-in here and asked other people to be all-in, so I can’t be the first person to run away from the ship.’
However, QPR have now slipped to seventh after taking just one point from five games and he is expected to jump at the chance to take charge at Rangers.
Beale was a youth coach at Chelsea before moving to Liverpool to manage their under-16s and then under-23 side. That was where he became close to Gerrard, who he followed to Ibrox in May 2018.
He was assistant when Rangers won the title in 2020/21, denying Celtic ten-in-a-row in the process, before joining Gerrard at Villa a year ago and then QPR as boss in the summer.
Giovanni van Bronckhorst was sacked for ‘failing to meet expectations’ (Picture: Craig Foy/SNS Group)
Beale, who has had just 22 matches as a manager, deleted his Twitter account yesterday amid the speculation linking him to Rangers.
Bookies make him odds-on at 1/10 to be their next boss with Sean Dyche a distant second-favourite at 12/1 – but the ex-Burnley manager would be the choice of Ibrox legend Ally McCoist.
The former Gers striker and boss said: ‘I’d probably lean towards Sean. I know he (Beale) knows the club but it’s a different kettle of fish managing players at a club like Rangers and it’s very, very early into his management career.’
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The QPR manager is expected to jump at the chance to take charge.
