Aston Villa manager Steven Gerrard is not surprised to see his former Rangers assistant Mick Beale emerge as a leading candidate to take over at Premier League rivals Wolves, speaking to the Birmingham Mail.
With Villa slumping badly following the 42-year-old’s summer departure to Queens Park Rangers, talk has inevitably turned to whether or not Beale was really the brains behind Rangers’ 2020/21, title-winning Ibrox ‘Invincibles’.
Was Beale the Max Martin to Gerrard’s Katy Perry, for instance; going about his work in the background while others take the credit?
QPR’s emergence as genuine promotion challengers under Beale – coupled with Aston Villa’s ongoing malaise under Gerrard – have only added credence to that argument; the one-time Sao Paulo tactician thriving where the likes of Paul Clement largely failed.
Wolves want QPR boss Mick Beale as their new manager
Wolves, The Athletic claim, are making Beale their top choice to replace Bruno Lage. The Black Country outfit are ‘extremely impressed’ by the Kent-born boss, who could introduce a more attacking style at a club who have scored just four goals in 10 Premier League games.
“It’s no surprise,” Gerrard said when quizzed about Beale’s Wolves links. “I know Mick’s qualities as a human being and as a coach. I know more than anyone that he’s a man in a hurry. And he’s a man that wants to (manage in the Premier League).”
Beale admitted as such as recently as Tuesday. While at pains to point out that he remains very happy with life at QPR, Beale made no effort to hide his ambition to work at the highest possible level.
“QPR gave him an offer to go and lead the team. And he’s gone there in a short space of time and he’s had a successful time,” Gerrard adds. “So there’s no surprise (in Wolves’ interest).
“(Others) will have eyes on Michael Beale and I know more than most the qualities he possesses. So we’ll see what happens.”
The Athletic say that Beale’s contract contains a release clause. He will, in theory, be easier to get out of QPR than, say, Ruben Amorim was at Sporting Lisbon or Nuno Espirito Santo at Al-Ittihad.
Interestingly, Beale speaks Portuguese following his time in Brazilian football.
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