Given the struggles that Rangers manager Michael Beale has had so far in the 2023/24 campaign, plenty of pundits have been giving their thoughts on our form and results recently, but former treble winning Ibrox skipper, Barry Ferguson, is better placed than most when it comes to discussing the club, and the expectations of the fans.
Speaking in his recent Daily Record column, he new that the fans would be hurting right now, but he remains confident that Beale will have had everyone focused during the international break on making sure that when domestic football returns, we really hit the ground running and get ourselves on a proper run of victories – and should that happen, then inevitably all the noise that currently surrounds us in the media will quickly die down and all the managerial speculation and doubts about Beale’s future will disappear and people can get back to football match betting without looking at what the odds are on a new manager.
“There’s a lot of noise just now and the only way to quieten it is to do the business on the pitch. That starts with travelling up to Perth at 12.30pm next Saturday. I know a lot of people want the manager out and I understand the anger but I do think it’s far too early for Michael Beale to lose his job. The international break gives everybody, inside and outside the building, the chance to calm down. But the players have got to come back ready to bust a gut because the only way to kill the noise is to win games.”
Ferguson went on to say that it would not just be the manager who was feeling the pressure right now, the players should be as well as ultimately they have to take responsibility for their own performances on the pitch, but he did think that the jury was still out on our new signings as they are still adjusting to the club and might need a little bit longer to settle in and truly prove themselves.
With that said though, he had specific praise for goalkeeper Jack Butland as he believes the 30 year old former England stopper was looking ‘every inch a Rangers goalkeeper’.
Moving on to the run of fixtures we now have, Ferguson feels that with five of the next six domestic ties on home soil, that we can really use that as a springboard to get us some good form and momentum as we head towards the halfway point of the campaign and the new year.
“It’s vital that Michael Beale’s team shows a real improvement and determination to right some of the wrongs of the past week. I don’t care if it’s not the best performance at McDiarmid but Rangers fans want to see their team fired up and giving everything to get the win that they need. There’s nothing wrong with a bit of blood and thunder. The fans react to that and get behind the players when they see they are giving everything.”
Hopefully the break has worked to our advantage and there will be obvious and significant improvement when we next take to the pitch.
