Rangers are reportedly ready to make a formal approach for Queens Park Rangers boss Michael Beale.
The Bromley-born coach, 42, spent four years as Steven Gerrard 's assistant working for the Scottish Premiership giants and then Aston Villa, and has quickly emerged as the favourite to succeed Giovanni van Bronckhorst, who was sacked after a year in charge on Monday. Beale recently rejected the chance to become the new manager of Wolverhampton Wanderers but is now being eyed up by the Ibrox hierarchy with the view to a potential return - unlike the out-of-work Gerrard, who was recently dismissed by Villa.
According to talkSPORT, QPR - who reluctantly allowed Wolves to hold talks with their head coach just a few weeks ago - expect Rangers to be successful in their swoop Beale, whose work at Loftus Road hasn't gone unnoticed. As one of English football's most acclaimed young coaches, the former Charlton Athletic youngster - who retired from playing at the age of 21 after being released by the Addicks - has earned his stripes at clubs such as Liverpool, Chelsea and Sao Paulo, where he assisted the legendary Rogerio Ceni.
Now, though, Beale could be back above the border in Glasgow, a city which is close to his heart. After being spotted at Ibrox in October to watch Rangers beat Aberdeen 4-1, prompting fans to speculate over the possibility of him succeeding Van Bronkhorst, he explained to Sky Sports : "It's a wonderful club, I had a wonderful time there and obviously my daughter was born there as well.
"My family loved it. We left a year ago and I hadn't had the chance yet to go back and say goodbye to some people. I'm really friendly with everyone there and I've got a lot of friends in the city in general after living there for the best part of four years. It was a visit that was long overdue. It was in the diary for five or six weeks before."
Beale, whose stock has risen rapidly since taking up his post in west London five months ago, has previously suggested that he'd "love to" manage Rangers one day - although he claimed in October that he was fully committed to his project at QPR for the time being. "It's all come a little bit too soon," Beale told his current club's website, having turned down a tempting offer from Wolves.
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"It is the aim for me to work in the Premier League, like it is for all of our players. The idea is to try and go there ourselves, as a group. At times, if we're doing well there will be speculation and temptation. One thing's for sure, Wolves are a fantastic football club, a historic football club. It was a real privilege to be asked to go and speak to them but I didn’t think it was the right moment.
"Because I entered into an agreement here and integrity is a real big thing for me, and loyalty. You don't give it to receive it back but if those are your values then, when you’re put in a position, you have to be strong by them.
"I don't feel that we're anywhere near where I want QPR to be. I'm enjoying working with them, we've got a lot do but I'm excited by it. There will be bumps in the road but I've been all-in here and I've asked others to be all-in. So I can't be the first to run away from the ship."
