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.
“After this weekend my job doesn’t get any bigger or smaller,” he said. “It’s still going to be a huge job come Monday and my in-tray is going to be really big.
“This is a one-off game, would I like us to be in an even stronger place going in? Yes but I don’t remember too many times when both teams were going in on the back of such long unbeaten runs.
“Naturally something has got to give and I’m hoping I’m delighted on Sunday evening and not lower than a snake’s belly. But ultimately on Monday we’ve got a lot of work to do.
“We don’t want to go too overboard on it because it’s just one game. We’ve still got to play however many league games and the Scottish Cup too.
“Everything is important. We played a League Cup Final here in 2019 and played very well between the boxes but you get nothing for that.
"When I was appointed, I came into a lot of noise. I get that everyone is talking about the momentum that could be got from winning this trophy.
“We’re fighting for a trophy. But after that I still have a lot of work to do, whether we win or lose the game.”
Beale could be forgiven for feeling a little deflated as the days tick by towards kick-off at the national stadium following a return of the injury issues that blighted his first couple of weeks in the job. But the performances of January new boys Nico Raskin and Todd Cantwell have offered room for optimism ahead of the biggest date in Beale’s fledgling managerial career so far.
The rookie gaffer said: “You just saw that two players in Nico Raskin and Todd Cantwell coming in has changed the perception a little bit. They have a lot of belief in themselves and rightly so.
“They are two good young players. I think they come in with a freedom of not being caught up in the politics of Scottish football, if you like, and everything around this fixture.
"Maybe they can just come in and play with real freedom. They are two boys who have signed up for a long journey at the club.
“Therefore their energy and their innocence towards the pressures and expectations I think is quite nice at this moment in time. They have performed well when they are not at their maximum fitness yet.
“They both came in having not played for two or three months and in the last two or three weeks we have tried to help that with minutes on the pitch.
“But they are still getting into tune with their team-mates. With another three or four like them to come in during the summer and we’ll be in a really good place I think.”
Beale’s last visit to Hampden for a showpiece occasion was that 2019 final, when despite dominating their Old Firm rivals, Gers failed to land a blow of note as Christopher Jullien’s winner snatched the spoils.
Gerrard was the man making the calls that night but Beale is far happier having the buck stop at his feet this weekend. He said: “I prefer it much more to be the manager.
“I say that because I get to map out the week the way I feel it. I get to get my message across.
“I try to put the focus on myself as much as I can this week and off the players so they can just concentrate on the game. We won’t be doing anything special for this week. Our preparations will be exactly the same.
“It’s an opponent we know well. So there are a lot of advantages to that compared to maybe a European final where you are playing someone in a complete one-off.
“We have been very good sparring partners for each other for a long, long while now.”
