Ibrox is turning on Michael Beale worse than the dark days of Le Guen – time is fast running out for him, says Kris Boyd
SUNDAY was the most toxic I’ve ever heard Ibrox.
It was worse than the final dark days under former flop boss Paul Le Guen.
I experienced it as a player then and it wasn’t pleasant.
But the weekend felt like a notch up with punters snapping after yet another feeble Old Firm defeat.
To be honest you can hardly blame them.
They have shelled out fortunes to follow their team and help fund Michael Beale’s ambitious rebuild.
read more football stories
And on the evidence so far this season they are being severely short-changed.
Four points behind after four games and out of the Champions League is not where Rangers wanted to be.
There is little margin for error now for Beale and his new-look squad going forward.
Time is fast running out for the Gers boss.
Most read in Football
I’m not saying that the board should pull the trigger just yet as there is still a chance the side will come good, even if there is no evidence of that right now.
However, time is not a commodity you get a lot of in Glasgow, particularly when things are not going well.
That is just the nature of the beast.
When you are winning it is the best place in the world.
When you are losing it is the worst spot on the planet. There is no hiding place.
There are already echoes of last term when the support eventually turned on Giovanni van Bronckhorst.
But the Dutchman had some credit in the bank after reaching a Europa League final, qualifying for the Champions League and winning a Scottish Cup.
Beale just hasn’t achieved any of that.
The Englishman has vowed to win over the disgruntled fans and change the mood of negativity.
He will need to do it quickly or else he will be a goner.
There have been recent Old Firm games when Rangers have been unlucky.
There is actually not a lot to separate the two teams as Beale keeps reminding us.
I agree with him yet Celtic keep coming out on top and that’s all that matters.
They were there for the taking at the weekend.
Even I would have fancied myself to score against that back four.
Only James Tavernier and a fit Kemar Roofe look like scoring right now.
Given all the money spent on attacking reinforcements that is a sad indictment.
Once again Cyriel Dessers, Sam Lammers and Danilo all failed to deliver.
Roofe did have a goal wrongly chalked off in the first half. But then he was asked to get closer to Callum McGregor at the start of the second.
He was forced to drop deeper and deeper and away from where he should be and was then hooked to the whole stadium’s surprise.
I actually struggled to work out what Rangers were trying to do for most of the match.
There did not appear to be any purposeful shape or system. And the press was a joke at times.
I’m fed up hearing how hard guys like Dessers and Todd Cantwell work.
However, far too many times they are breaking rank from the defensive unit.
It might look good when they chase down lost causes, but too often they lose shape by pressing on their own and then leave their team-mates in trouble.
It happened countless times with McGregor given the freedom of Ibrox to control the game.
There was also a softness to Rangers. Too many players don’t seem to get what it means to pull on that jersey.
I’m not for one second saying you need to be part of the brown brogues brigade to sign for the club.
But you should have the mentality to realise the importance of the situation.
Celtic have plenty of those in their ranks — boys like McGregor, Greg Taylor, David Turnbull, even Liam Scales and Tony Ralston.
They understand what it is all about.
Rangers don’t have enough of those types who have been brought up through the ranks in Scottish football.
They seem a collection of individuals who keep making the same mistakes.
It is easy to point the finger at the defence, and particularly the full-backs.
Tav always seems to be the whipping boy.
I get there have been numerous times when he has been caught out in big games.
But a large part of that is down to the way that Rangers play.
The club has not had a proper right winger since Daniel Candeias left four years ago.
There is never anyone directly in front of the skipper to ease the burden.
With Beale playing so narrow he is being asked to play at right-back and right wing at the same time almost every week.
No wonder he is being exposed. But in the grand scheme of things Rangers have far bigger problems right now than James Tavernier to worry about.
There are only four Premiership games in and they have already lost two of them.
Read more on the Scottish Sun
Beale now has a fortnight during the international break to find a solution to a myriad of problems. If he doesn’t then he won’t need me or a disgruntled support to spell out exactly what will happen.
Keep up to date with ALL the latest news and transfers at the Scottish Sun football page