Come Monday morning Michael Beale knows he’ll be high as a kite or lower than one of those Chinese spy balloons the US airforce last week blasted out the sky.
But as the Ibrox boss prepares to lead out his team at Hampden, he doesn’t buy into the theory that defeat to Celtic could potentially burst his side’s bubble. Rangers have been floating along nicely since his appointment, carried along by the fresh breeze that followed Steven Gerrard’s former sidekick through the door two-and-a-half months back. With 13 wins and a draw under his belt so far, expectation levels have inflated at just as quick a rate as his squad’s confidence levels.
The hot air surrounding Sunday’s showdown, however, it that something has got to give, whether it be Beale’s unbeaten start or the even lengthier run that Ange Postecoglou’s rampant Celtic side have been on since their last loss in mid-September. The theory goes that whoever fails to bring home the trophy risks being brought back to earth with a bump. But Beale is already looking beyond this weekend’s contest and to the even bigger challenges that lie ahead.
