Rangers boss Beale hugely confident of improvement at Ibrox after defeat to Celtic

Rangers manager Michael Beale says he hasn’t sought any assurances about his future from the club hierarchy – and is “hugely confident” he can turn things around at Ibrox.

Beale and his players are back in action this weekend after a two-week break, having spent the time recovering from a 1-0 home defeat to Celtic in the first derby of the season.

That loss left the Ibrox side trailing their city rivals by four points after just four league games, and came after a bruising 7-3 aggregate defeat to PSV Eindhoven that saw Rangers dumped out of the Champions League at the play-off stage.

That has left some supporters angry, and pundits questioning his long-term future at the club, nearly ten months after he arrived as Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s replacement.

Beale said he hadn’t asked for any guarantees or assurances from the chief executive or chairman after the Old Firm defeat, and said he didn’t need any to carry on with his job.

“Naturally, I speak to James Bisgrove every day,” he said. “I speak to John Bennett and other members of the board at least two or three times a week as normal. Nothing has changed in that respect.

“My relationship with James Bisgrove and John Bennett is extremely close.

“I don’t need assurances. I’m part of a plan in terms of where we’re going as a club.

“We are very aligned so I have no concerns about that. I can’t affect the background noise, I have to get on with my job.

“We have discussed the period up until the international break and it is a chance to reflect. I am disappointed with the results like everybody else.

“It’s something I’m fully aware and involved in.”

Beale said he knew that early season results hadn’t been good enough but stressed that there was a lot of football still to be played. He said the focus was on silverware but that there had been a lot of change over the summer and he believes things will improve.

Acknowledging the supporter unrest, the Englishman, who served as Steven Gerrard’s assistant in a previous spell at the club, didn’t play down their unhappiness but was clear there was only one way to win them around again.

“[Their feeling] was heard loud and clear,” he said. “I don’t think there’s much time for talking now, we need to make it up to them on the pitch in performances and results.

“Fans are sharing their frustration and anxiety at the way the start of the season has gone. That’s quite natural.”

And when asked if he was confident he was the man to improve performances and results, Beale was bullish but said his new-look side was taking longer to settle than he expected.

“I’m hugely confident,” he said.

“We come into this season, our domestic win percentage was really high (last season). We come into this season, nine games in the first month of the season and some of the players arrived a week before like Jose Cifuentes and Danilo.

“You have to manage the nine players coming in and some important players going out.

“Last season I probably relied on Malik Tillman, Fashion Sakala, Alfredo Morelos and Ryan Kent in 90% of our games as my front three or four.

“Those players have changed and I think we’ve brought really good players in. I think the time to judge them is not right now.

“Naturally we would all want the new players to come in and hit the ground running but it’s taking a bit longer than I thought to settle.

“I thought the last game we lost (against Celtic), there was no reason to lose the game. I think there was a decision in the game that sends the game in a certain direction and it’s regrettable we lost.

“I’ll own it and the player have got to own it as well.

“We’ve got to show our worth in the coming months.”