Rangers sack Michael Beale with club seven points behind Celtic in league

Rangers have sacked manager Michael Beale following the 3-1 defeat to Aberdeen that leaves them seven points behind Celtic in the Premiership after only seven league games of the season.

Former club captain Steven Davis will take charge of the team in an interim basis with Alex Rae among the coaching staff.

Pressure has been building on Beale since the opening day defeat to Kilmarnock and was cranked up a couple of notches after the 5-1 thumping in Eindhoven and 1-0 home defeat to their city rivals in the space of a week at the start of September.

Despite recording four wins in a row without conceding a goal, including a 1-0 Europa League victory over Real Betis, and securing a League Cup semi-final spot – an ever growing section of the support weren’t convinced by performances and the team were booed off following a 1-0 defeat of Motherwell last week.

Frustration among the Ibrox faithful continued to grow and Beale’s tenure in charge of the first-team came to an end with the loss to Barry Robson’s Dons in the southside of Glasgow on Saturday.

Following a three-year spell as assistant manager to Steven Gerrard, which culminated in the 2020/21 title win, the pair left to join English Premier League side Aston Villa.

But Beale returned around a year later to take over from Giovanni van Bronckhorst in November 2022 following a brief spell with QPR.

Despite an initial upturn in fortunes against the rest of the league, he oversaw League Cup final and Scottish Cup semi-final defeats to treble-winning Celtic last season.

He oversaw a complete overhaul of the first-team squad in the summer, following the departures of the likes of Alfredo Morelos, Ryan Kent, Allan McGregor and Scott Arfield.

But his new recruits, such as Cyriel Dessers, Sam Lammers and Jose Cifuentes have failed to hit the ground running or convince the support that they have the quality needed.

In six Old Firm games, with three being at Ibrox at one at Celtic Park, he lost four, drew one and won only one in a game that came after the Hoops had already clinched the league title.

It was these results that would come to symbolise his tenure and eventually signal the end to his time in charge of the club.

He has only lasted until the start of October with the hunt for his replacement now under way.

Steven Davis will lead the interim management team until a replacement is in place.

His coaching team will consist of former Rangers players Alex Rae and Steven Smith, coach Brian Gilmour, and goalkeeping coach Colin Stewart.

Rangers announced the news on Sunday night, with chairman John Bennett saying: “I’d like to thank Michael for his dedicated work since he re-joined the club as manager last November.

“It is clear that results have fallen well short of the board’s, Michael’s and our supporters’ expectations.

“The search process for the new manager is already underway. I wish Steven Davis and the interim management team every success – they will remain in charge for as long as it takes to make the right appointment.”

Davis, capped 140 times for Northern Ireland, rejoined Rangers from Southampton in 2019 following another loan spell at Ibrox.

He had initially joined Rangers from Fulham in 2008, after a first loan spell at Ibrox.