Former Celtic star Charlie Nicholas is adamant Michael Beale is bang on the money over his claims Ange Postecoglou is a lucky man.
But the 61-year-old insists the Rangers boss would love to copy his rival across the city when it comes to spending in the transfer market. Nicholas believes Beale should know all about the chance to splash the cash after spending three-and-a-half years next to Steven Gerrard with deals such as the £7m permanent arrival of Ryan Kent.
And Nicholas believes Postecoglou was also destined to be backed by the Parkhead board in the wake of the doomed pursuit of 10-In-A-Row. Speaking in his Express column, Nicholas said: "Michael Beale is spot on about Ange Postecoglou but the thing is the Rangers boss would also love to be bang on the money. Beale has said Ange Postecoglou is a good manager but he has spent a lot of money. I think it is a fair point but I would also say that Steven Gerrard did exactly the same, when Beale was under him, albeit maybe on a lesser scale but over a longer timescale.
"There is nothing wrong with that approach. Celtic had to go and spend money. They had to spend money to become the dominant force again because Rangers had stopped 10-in-a-row. When Beale left, Rangers were the dominant force. Did he expect Celtic just to sit back and accept that when Gerrard left? Celtic were never going to accept the status quo. They made a mistake because they should only have put Neil Lennon in place short-term. The fact they turned it into a long-term appointment and they let it go for too long and that allowed Rangers in. Lennon should have come in, steadied the ship and then moved on to whether that was Eddie Howe or Ange Postecoglou. There was no way Eddie wouldn’t have come up here and not spent money and Ange was the same.
"Beale will be the same over the coming weeks. He will want a bit more money in this window, then the next one and then more again in the one after that. He will end up doing what Ange has done and will go down the exact same route. Michael will want to get to the level where Ange is now because it means he is becoming successful. If it is successful then why not copy it? Rangers are now trying to play catch-up and this time they will need to spend money to try and bridge the gap."
Nicholas admits he was thrilled by the action in the big game but the outspoken pundit has told the conspiracy theorists to tone it down in the wake of the recriminations from it. He added: "I know the Old Firm game was a draw but Celtic are still ahead and they will win the league. I know there has been a lot of talk about VAR since that game. People have been even going on about conspiracy theories. I find it all a bit pathetic. It seems everybody has got caught up in VAR. Why don’t we talk about the games, the players or the managers? We need to get back talking about football than VAR!"
READ NEXT:
