Michael Beale has caused quite a bit of controversy since his arrival as the manager of the Rangers. Whether that be because of his ‘lucky man’ claim about Ange Postecoglou or his comments about Chris Sutton’s time at Chelsea. At the weekend, it was heartbreak for the Ibrox club though, as Celtic walked out of Hampden Park with a 2-1 victory and the Scottish League Cup.
With the first piece of silverware secured, and a nine-point lead in the Premiership, a lot of Celtic fans are starting to think about a potential treble. It is way too early for that though and the team must take one step at a time.
On the other hand, it remains to be seen how the Rangers react to the setback. It was their first defeat under the management of Beale.
Interestingly, the Rangers player walked off the pitch before Celtic were awarded the Scottish League Cup on Sunday. And that did not impress Frank McAvennie. As reported by Football Insider, he said:
"“Their manager has been going on about pride and doing the right thing and they did it all wrong at the weekend.“Walking his team down the tunnel before Celtic got given the trophy is just ridiculous. Not that the Celtic boys would have noticed but it is just a wee bit of class.”"
Beale slammed for actions against Celtic in Scottish League Cup final
Beale has talked about doing the right thing since arriving as the manager of the Ibrox club. They showed a good example of that, when they let Partick Thistle score against them following a controversial goal from Malik Tillman.
It is safe to say that them walking down the tunnel before Celtic were awarded the Scottish League Cup, did raise quite a few eyebrows. And some questions might be asked of Beale in future press conferences about the matter.
The Celtic players would not have noticed though. They were there to win the trophy and they did that job well, thanks to a brace from Kyogo Furuhashi. The Japanese forward had won them the competition last season as well, by scoring twice against Hibernian in the final.