That was some weekend if you are a Celtic fan. For Michael Beale and supporters of the Rangers, it was pretty much the opposite. The results, after a disappointing start to the season have led to the departure of the Ibrox boss, less than a year after he was brought in as Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s replacement.
Matt O’Riley’s late, late winner at Fir Park gave the Hoops another league win and three points. Many Rangers fans were anticipating dropped points before the Danish international found the back of the net. They were obviously disappointed, but the worst was yet to come.
Later that day, Beale’s side lost at Ibrox to a solid Aberdeen performance. As the Rangers players left the pitch they were accompanied by yet another chorus of boos and a dissatisfied crowd. And that was just at half-time when they were down by a goal to the Dons.
By full-time, after another lacklustre performance, a red card for Scott Wright and a 1-3 defeat at the hands of Aberdeen, the writing seemed to be on the wall. It felt like only a matter of time before Beale was shown the exit door.
Beale’s old Celtic claim goes viral after Rangers exit
Beale’s departure became inevitable after the result against inevitable. His time and the Rangers fans’ patience had run out as they fell seven points behind Celtic in the league table after just seven games.
Beale was supposedly the mastermind behind Steven Gerrard’s Premeirship-winning team. His own run in the Ibrox hot seat ended with no trophies and inside a year.
His past comments have been doing the rounds of social media after his departure was confirmed. Particularly ones he had made about Celtic’s first league win under the management of Ange Postecoglou. As reported by the Daily Record, Beale told BT Sport:
"“We started the season and people were looking to pick holes because we were so perfect the year before. We started well, we were still four points in front, and there was no way (Celtic) would have come past us.”"
As reported by the BBC, Rangers’ club statement read:
"“Results this season have fallen short of what everyone connected to Rangers would expect.“Therefore, the decision was reached today to terminate the contract of the manager, as well as the contracts of coaches Neil Banfield, Damian Matthew, Harry Watling and Jack Ade.“The Rangers board would like to put on record their thanks to Michael and his staff for their efforts since joining the club last November.”"
Steven Davis takes charge of the team, for now, supported by Alex Rae while a permanent successor is sought. The former of course has no managerial experience. The latter was available, with his last run coming as the assistant manager at Reading.