Beale sacked by Rangers after third defeat in seven

Michael Beale has been sacked as Rangers manager after Saturday’s home defeat by Aberdeen left them seven points behind Celtic after seven games of the Scottish Premiership season.

The club said results had “fallen short of what everyone connected to Rangers would expect”.

Former midfielder Steven Davis has taken interim charge, supported by Alex Rae, and coaches Steven Smith, Brian Gilmour and Colin Stewart.

Beale, 43, left Queens Park Rangers in November to replace Giovanni van Bronckhorst and started with 13 wins out of 14 games but ultimately ended last season without a trophy.

Although his side won their opening Europa League group stage game against Real Betis, and have reached the semi-final of the Viaplay Cup, league defeats by Kilmarnock, Celtic and Aberdeen have proved costly.

“Results this season have fallen short of what everyone connected to Rangers would expect,” read a club statement.

“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.”

‘Horrible result’ marks end of tenure

When asked about his future after the 3-1 defeat by Aberdeen at Ibrox, Beale conceded that the “horrible result” had mounted further pressure on his shoulders.

Asked if he had any indication whether is job was safe or not, he added “I haven’t spoken to anyone right now” before concluding with “we’ll see what happens”.

“Everyone realises where we are, the standard and results need to be better,” the Rangers boss continued on Sportsound. “We can’t hide behind the fact that we won four games because today wasn’t good enough.”

Beale also vowed “to make it up to” a disgruntled fanbase, but he will now not get that chance.

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