Former Premier League midfielder Danny Murphy believes QPR’s former Rangers and Aston Villa coach Mick Beale would take the Wolves job if he was offered it, speaking to talkSPORT (19 October, 10am).
It’s difficult to know what to make of the comments Beale came out with during his Tuesday press conference; quizzed about reports suggesting he’s joined the likes of Peter Bosz and Nuno Espirito Santo on Wolves’ managerial hit-list.
On one hand, Beale was at pains to point out that the Queens Park Rangers job is one that ‘really excites me’ (The Standard). One of the Championship’s dark horses could yet become a pedigree stallion; sitting sixth and just three points off the top.
But the 42-year-old certainly didn’t slam the door shut on Wolves’ fingers either. In that very same press conference, Beale admitted that he has ‘huge aspirations’. And, interestingly, a burning desire to coach at the very highest level.
Would Mick Beale leave QPR to become Wolves manager?
“We’re always honest about that,” Beale explains. “I have a wonderful job. I have owners that support me, a really strong management team and the players are 100 per cent with me.
“(But) it’s obvious that I’m ambitious. It’s obvious that the players here at QPR want to go and play in the Premier League. And I want to go and manage there, in Europe and above. But you deal with today.
“And, today, I’m the manager of QPR.”
Would Beale turn his back on a three-year deal he signed just a couple of months ago at QPR? Wolves offering him the chance to achieve his ambition of becoming a Premier League-level manager? One-time England international Murphy certainly thinks so.
“That interview suggests that, if Wolves came knocking, he’d be gone,” Murphy says.
One of the most highly-admired young coaches in English football, Beale’s tactical eye and man-management prowess were a major reason why Rangers broke Celtic’s stranglehold north of the border alongside Steven Gerrard. And is it any coincidence that things have taken a turn for the worse for Gerrard at Villa since Beale went out on his own at QPR?
Wolves lost 2-1 away at Crystal Palace on Tuesday night. They are now 17th in the Premier League table.
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