Analysing Michael Beale's Rangers rebuild blueprint

To receive our full, free newsletter including this analysis straight to your email inbox, click here and tick the box for Top Stories.

Michael Beale’s press conference held early on Thursday afternoon may well have been titled ‘pre-Kilmarnock’ but naturally, it materialised as very much ‘post-Old Firm’.

The focus was on Rangers’ summer rebuild because, in all honesty, what else was there to discuss?

Just two of the 16 questions posed focused on Saturday’s upcoming 3 o’clock meeting at Ibrox, such is the nature of a Hampden defeat. Four days on from the League Cup Final the temperature of Twitter timelines and online forums is only now starting to cool.

Yes, the improvement in performance and upturn in results have been obvious since Beale’s return. Yes, some key players have recovered form and appear more comfortable in a better-suited style of play. The tumult of this season’s early months felt like a distant memory heading into last weekend’s meeting with Celtic, before quickly seeping into the conscience once again. When it mattered, this collective were unable to turn it on. Simply, these are the games that draw the fine lines between success and failure at Rangers, making or breaking individual legacies.

Plenty of facets of the debate have been covered earlier this week; whether that be staggering overall injury issues faced by summer signings, a reluctance to throw January arrivals in at the deep end or plain and simple intangible qualities that this squad have lacked in too many Old Firms to recover. Regardless of the manager, set-up or style.

Ever since insisting this team “isn’t as broken as people think” during his Ibrox unveiling, Beale’s focused more on building confidence internally than speaking openly about change.

Although short and shrift when asked if he’d learned anything new about his players at the weekend, simply answering "I did", this was the most open and honest he’s been about the scale of work required in days, weeks and months to come. Was Hampden the straw that broke the camel's back for some? 

"I've got to be honest, regardless of what would have happened, the first half of this weekend's game was enough for me to know we need to do a hell of a lot of work,” Beale commented.

“We need to make a big shift in the energy we have on the pitch on matchday and that's [achieved by] recruiting, that might be developing, that might be promoting from within as well.”

“We know there are key decisions to be made in this club. I've made those decisions. I've explained where I see those are, but when we'll communicate and action them is in the summer. The next time we can make or confirm our decisions in the summer. 

"When the window reopens, there's going to be change.”

READ MORE: Every word of Michael Beale's Rangers press conference

It may well have been a new manager in the dugout on Sunday, but with the same individuals out-played in an Old Firm, unforgivable once let alone on multiple occasions, this was an unwelcome re-run for supporters. That explains the extra anger and anguish on top of the levels generally expected to follow a cup final defeat.

This is a situation the manager has inherited, not created, which has been quieter over the last few months while wins have totalled up. Everything is fine in football when you’re consistently picking up three points on a Saturday, until an unprofitable afternoon brings everyone back down to earth.

Beale himself quietly highlighted the 13 of 14 wins achieved heading into the meeting with Celtic at Hampden, saying: “Maybe you'd say, 'well, if you're 90 days into a job and you got the job on the back of bad form, there's a reason why that is because they've got more continuity'. There's no consolation in that today, so we have to move forward.

“Listen, everything plays its part in it. But in general, I've been very clear on the decisions that need to be made. There's a difference between being ruthless and being reckless or being clear and decisive in your decision-making.

“I think we need to recruit three or four that are going to make a massive impact on the team. We need to sort out the futures obviously of the ones that are there. And it may be that I feel that we need to change one or two that are in contract as well. So, there's no exact number on it. It's [my] job to sit back and assess the players and who's got the appetite and the quality to take us where we want to go. I'll keep that in-house, but I'm very clear on it.”

Beale did admit before last weekend that the result against Celtic would not change his workload. Sure, some silverware would've made life easier, but this Rangers remain far away from the one he envisions. 

This squad so clearly requires fresh energy, new impetus and a line in the sand to cast out the old era and bring in the new.

Whether it’s branded a revamp or a rebuild, “there’s going to be change” at Ibrox in the summer that’s overdue and necessary. It would be reckless not to be ruthless at this stage.