Former Celtic striker Charlie Nicholas has used his Scottish Daily Express column to claim Michael Beale will need be the ‘lucky man’ he professes Ange Postecoglou to be if he’s to get one over on the Celtic boss and lift the League Cup on Sunday.
Beale of course has been happy to open his mouth, let his tubby belly rumble, and portray his naivety ever since he stepped into the manager’s chair at Ibrox, after reportedly courting the role while his predecessor was still in place.
It will take more than a verbal targeting of the Celtic boss however to satisfy the hordes at Ibrox, something they showed with their pointed words directed at the new incumbent at Livingston on Saturday.
And to do that you can be guaranteed theRangers support will fully expect Beale to win the League Cup on Sunday afternoon, otherwise the honeymoon period for the rookie boss will be well and truly over – when you can guarantee the hordes will be revolting once again.
And Nicholas believes Beale will have his work cut out on that score, as Postecoglou and Celtic have a far better squad than their Glasgow rivals, something Nicholas doesn’t believe is even open to debate.
“Michael Beale will become the ‘lucky man’ in Glasgow if his Rangers (sic) team manages to beat Celtic and lift the League Cup. Sitting in the Celtic camp, I do expect Celtic to win the cup final this weekend. I think Beale has made Rangers (sic) better but there is still a gap. Celtic’s squad is much stronger than Rangers (sic). That is an absolute fact.
“Beale is trying to play catch-up. He is not going to win the title. He will know that but will never admit it until it is done. It would still be an amazing capture for Beale to lift the trophy after just coming through the door. Beale is quite an inventive coach and I am sure he will come up with a little tweak here or there.”
Yet while Nicholas believes there is little case for the defence when it comes to theRangers overcoming Celtic, the ex-Celt feels Beale was quite right to respond to Chris Sutton after the Ibrox manager’s public meltdown last week.
And in a clear dig at Sutton who appears to have the sort of media roles Nicholas once had but lost, Charlie has described Sutton as the Donald Trump of footballing punditry. Miaow!
“I have said before that Sutton is the Donald Trump of punditry. He has nipped away and nipped away at Beale. There is no way Sutton would have had a go at Neil Lennon or Martin O’Neill, his two great loves, that way. Beale was doing a positive thing against Partick Thistle and it shouldn’t be spun into a negative thing.”
Whilst Michael Beale will suit Chris Sutton as a suitable target, given his position as theRangers boss, it remains to be seen whether Nicholas – who has moved further to the periphery of football punditry since being punted from his SkySports gig – will warrant a response from football’s ‘Donald Trump’.
However, you can’t imagine Sutton won’t have a cutting response lined up for Charlie. And if Beale is no match for Postecoglou, you could argue a verbal joust between Sutton and Nicholas could be similarly mismatched.
Niall J
