During Philippe Clement’s unveiling, CEO James Bisgrove was asked about the influence of former Rangers manager Michael Beale on transfers.
Bisgrove initially confirmed that Beale had heavily influenced the process, but later changed his statement and claimed that Beale was only a part of the process that Ross Wilson and others had put in place months earlier. This has caused confusion and uncertainty regarding Beale’s actual level of influence on transfers.
He said:
“The reality is that the decisions for the summer transfer window were taken over a period of time – three months, six months, even a year before – by the scouting team and even the previous director of football working with the manager. They put that plan in place. So when we got to the transfer window it was very clear what we were going to do. Yes, it was heavily influenced by the manager.”
Not only did he admit that Michael Beale played a significant role in those signatures, but he also placed responsibility for those failures on the scouting department.
He goes on:
“No, no, that (Beale had too much influence) wasn’t what I was saying. What I was saying was that the transfer window over the summer was planned over a period of time. That had involvement from the scouting team, the chief scout and former directors on the football side. The manager was at the heart of that. But it wasn’t only the manager that was taking the decisions.”
It appears that by using the phrase ‘heavily influenced’ and at the heart of that’, you are implying that Beale was responsible for designing his own team.
The fact is that Rangers fans were aware of this and he was given the opportunity to build his own Rangers side from scratch.
However, it is clear that his plan failed miserably. Beale had too much control over decisions, which ultimately resulted in bad outcomes. Bisgrove is now trying to deflect the blame from Beale and put it on scouting, in an attempt to save face.
However, in doing so, he inadvertently reveals that Beale was given free rein to do as he pleased and was supported by the scouting section. This was a costly mistake that Rangers should have avoided.
