Rangers' transfer rebuild - How will Michael Beale shape squad?

That’s why, when quizzed on the future after Sunday’s 1-0 Scottish Cup Semi-Final defeat to Celtic, Michael Beale didn’t hold back. To this point he’s been managing the season but now, nothing gained over the remainder of the campaign can build any meaningful momentum. All eyes are on the summer.

“It will be the biggest rebuild the club has seen in a number of years,” he said sitting in the bowels of Hampden. Uttering a sentence that’s played away in the background ever since his arrival late last year, confirmed by yesterday’s failure.

So, what do we know about the work to be undertaken, do differing messages contrast and has this been the plan from the start?

What did Beale say after arriving?

Memorably in his first-ever press conference back at Rangers, Beale declared “This team is not as broken as people think”.

In the short term, that statement looked fair. Before a recent 3-2 Old Firm defeat in the league, only the League Cup Final was a blemish on Beale’s record. It’s all very well casting that off as meaningless now but Rangers won eight games away from home in a row and took care of domestic fixtures at a rate they’d rarely achieved in recent years.

Considering the situation he inherited, there was a necessary stabilisation period as Rangers tried to make this season matter for something. Having used the phrase ‘managing the season’ before, Beale’s known from the start that a full iteration of his vision won’t be possible until a pre-season and summer transfer window arrives. And gradually throughout the following months, that’s become increasingly apparent.

What about his comments in the January window?

After conceding a late equaliser in the New Year Old Firm, Beale remained upbeat about the season's prospects. While still emphasising the scale of work to be undertaken and vitality of recruitment.

“I want to bring in the right players. I don’t want to bring in any short-term [players]. We need people to come in who are going to be big players for Rangers over the next two to three years," he said.

Later emphasising the importance of signing individuals who would “grow and not shrink” under the pressures of Ibrox and meeting targets face-to-face, Nico Raskin and Todd Cantwell arrived, hitting the ground running.

What about the ‘revamp’ claim after the League Cup Final?

Defeat at Hampden in February was the first major blow for Beale at Rangers and criticism over his team selection and tactical approach followed. Still, errors in defence and indecision in attack left the margins thin enough.

READ MORE: Rangers futures have been decided by Celtic defeat, this team blew their last chance - Joshua Barrie

“Revamp is a better word than rebuild,” Beale said when asked if the earlier claim that "this team is not as broken as people think" was misplaced.

“When I look at a team with the promise that Malik Tillman has shown, with Raksin, Cantwell. There’s enough for me to be super optimistic about the future. Is it going to be plain sailing? Of course, it isn’t. If I’d come in today and we’d won the cup final would everything have been rosy? No, we’d have still had that work to do.”

There remained a Scottish Cup to retain and a crucial Old Firm derby in the league to be navigated. The tone was still about making additions, rather than major alterations. 

And his 'shape futures' comments at the start of the month?

The manager did pre-empt that, of course, the outcome of these games would prove decisive in the careers of many individuals.

“It’s important in these last weeks of the season with three derbies that we continue to show that because it will form and shape people’s futures at the club,” he said before the league clash at Parkhead. Publicly reaffirming that players were fighting for their futures.

On reflection, there's almost been a drip-feeding of information since November.

Following his appointment, Beale wanted everyone fit to judge the squad and drive up competition properly, thereafter came demands for quality additions to start the summer’s work early and aid this season’s efforts. After that was the caveat of revamp not rebuild, dependent on the outcome of the final three Old Firm games.

Before the last two fixtures, there remained the prospect of a very different outcome to this season.

Legacies and careers at Ibrox swing on moments. Had Fashion Sakala found the other side of the post twice at Hampden, how different would the outlook be today? However, the fact that Rangers have fallen on the wrong side of thin margins so often gives reason for change, not optimism that the next time will be different.

Beale’s suggestion that the derbies mentioned above would decide futures was a sign of things to come.

What about the suggestion that Rangers were only 'four or five' players away?

The 3-2 defeat at Parkhead saw Rangers stifle Celtic and still contrive to lose by way of errors, handing over two goals at the start of the half.

“The semi-final is huge. These games are always massive and a privilege to be involved in. We’ve had rough luck a little bit in the games so far,” Beale said speaking on TalkSport after that league meeting.

"I think right now, this group has probably given me what they can, and we're probably four or five players away from being where I want us to be. That's nothing against the players that are playing just now, it will just make us stronger.”

Anyone who watched that game at Parkhead in isolation wouldn’t have suggested a completely new start was required. Football, of course, does not exist in a vacuum.

What was to come would confirm that although margins have been thin, repeated failure in this fixture and the reality of Rangers’ contract situation was always going to result in more than "four or five".

What did Beale say on Sunday?

Alongside the scale of the rebuild, Beale was drawn on numbers at Hampden. Asked if the summer could see a turnover of “a dozen or so”, he replied, “Something in the words you used because there is a number out of contract.”

“It will be the biggest rebuild the club has seen in a number of years. You have to be respectful. You come in November and know that changes will be made, you’re asked at every press conference. I’ve got a group of players I need to manage and keep motivated for the games I’ve been here. It’s obvious I’m not going to condemn and send them away, but it’s also obvious as we get to the summer there is going to be some change.”

The clearest admission yet of what was to come, Beale will have known that for the sake of his own project, only looking forward would do after Sunday. 

What happens now?

While you could argue Beale’s messaging has fluctuated, what else was he to do? This season still had plenty to fight for after he arrived. Although let down by this squad’s limitations in the end, summer could not come in November.

Projecting wide-scale change then wouldn't have served any good. Only the effective ending of this season has catalysed the reality of the summer to come.

Beale's experienced the thin margins this team have fallen on the wrong side of and that reality informs the future. He knows to be a success, change is required and now as summer approaches, change is coming.