Steven Gerrard's former assistant manager Michael Beale has explained why he reacted to suggestions he could take over at Aston Villa by saying "no chance".
Beale was Gerrard's number two at Rangers and in his first eight months at Villa Park. But he departed last summer to take up the vacant manager's job at Queen's Park Rangers, leading them to the top of the Championship after 16 games of the new campaign.
Amid that impressive performance in his first job in management, Wolves made a shock bid to bring him in to replace the sacked Bruno Lage. Beale ultimately turned down that opportunity, but the links to a Premier League job did not stop with the Molineux side.
When Gerrard was sacked by Villa last Thursday, Beale was soon linked with replacing him. Many had seen him as the mastermind behind Gerrard's success, with his work at QPR adding to his burgeoning reputation.
But after guiding QPR to their ninth win of the season by beating Wigan Athletic 2-1, Beale moved to shut down those claims. And he provoked an angry reaction from some Villa fans at the strength of his comments.
"No chance. Great club, great history, great people, good people behind the scenes. They’ve had two outstanding managers in the last two years," he told talkSPORT when asked if he was interested in taking over at Villa.
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"For whatever reason it hasn’t worked out so they may have to look at the way the club is run or the model. Is the recruitment all in line? There’s a lot of good people behind the scenes that have got a lot of despair at the moment.
"I feel for the fans because it’s a wonderful football club, but no, I gave my commitment here the other day. There’s certainly no interest on my part. A few of my friends have lost their jobs in the last few days."
Following the reaction from Villa fans though, Beale moved to "clarify" his comments. He insisted that he was merely showing his commitment to QPR, rather than attempting to be critical of Villa.
"To clarify. AVFC is a wonderful club, I enjoyed my time there & wish them every success in the future. The players/staff were a pleasure to work with. The “no chance” comment was in reference to my commitment to QPR and was in no way being disrespectful to anyone at Villa Park," he wrote on Twitter.
Sporting Lisbon manager Rúben Amorim is the current favourite to be Gerrard's replacement, though Villa will have to pay a large compensation fee to bring him in. Beale meanwhile continues to build his reputation at Loftus Road.
QPR are next in action on Friday when they host Birmingham City, with the London side hoping to extend their lead at the top of the second tier. They will be hoping that Beale can lead them into the Premier League for the first time since 2015.
