On a day where Liverpool legend Steven Gerrard’s first taste of Premier League management came to a disappointing end, it perhaps shouldn’t be overlooked that it was also a day where his former trusted number two, Michael Beale, spurned the opportunity to return to the English top-flight himself.
It was only in June when the former Reds coach left Gerrard’ s side, having been a vital lieutenant at both Rangers and Aston Villa, to forge his own path as he was appointed head coach at Championship side Queens Park Rangers. 15 games into the season and his Hoops side sit top of the table.
In contrast, the side he left behind are above the Premier League relegation zone on goals scored alone after a hefty 3-0 loss away at newly-promoted Fulham acted as a death knell on Gerrard’s reign.
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Beale’s immediate impact at Loftus Road earned the attention of Wolverhampton Wanderers, after Julen Lopetegui spurned their advances. And Gerrard wasn’t surprised at such interest.
“It’s no surprise, he said earlier this week. “I know Mick’s qualities as a human being and as a coach. I know more than anyone that he’s a man in a hurry and he’s a man that wants to (manage in the Premier League).
“QPR gave him an offer to go and lead the team and he’s gone there in a short space of time and he’s had a successful time. So there’s no surprise, not just in this situation, but others will have eyes on Michael Beale and I know more than most the qualities he possesses so we’ll see what happens.”
Yet the highly-rated 42-year-old had no intention of calling time on his QPR reign after less than five months.
"There's been a lot in the background, it's been a difficult few days personally if I'm honest because I was really focused on here and everything came out of the blue and these things really do snowball," Beale admitted in an interview with his club after confirming his intention to stay put..
"When I joined the club in the summer I found an ownership that was really honest with me about what they wanted and they were giving me my first opportunity to be a manager
"I took that task on with a lot of enthusiasm and excitement. They enabled me to build a management team and enabled me to recruit some players that I really wanted to work with. I had to talk to them, sometimes their parents, sometimes their agents, sometimes their wives to convince them that QPR was the right time to come.
"So it has all come a little bit too soon. It is the aim for me to go and work in the Premier League, like it is for all of our players, and the idea is to try to go there ourselves as a group.
"At times if we're doing well there will be speculation and there'll be temptation. It was a real privilege to be asked to go to speak to them (Wolves) but I didn't think it was the right moment because I entered into an agreement here.
"Integrity is a real big thing for me, and loyalty. You don't give it to receive it back but I think if they're the values you live by, then at times when you're put in a position then you have to be strong by them."
It would be no surprise if Beale, who idolised both Johan Cruyff and Sir Bobby Robson, ended up in the English top-flight sooner rather than later, with him aiming to achieve exactly that with the Hoops. But even if QPR’s early promotion challenge falls away as the season goes on, such an opportunity is likely to come knocking again at some point in the future.
Appointed first team coach at Rangers following Gerrard’s appointment in 2018, Beale helped bring the Scottish Premiership back to Ibrox for the first time in 10 years. Following the Liverpool l egend to Villa Park last October, his title was changed from first-team coach to assistant head coach, giving him parity with Gary McAllister, in recognition of the work he did at Ibrox. Aston Villa would finish the season in 14th.
Having taken over a side sitting 15th after five straight losses, Gerrard would oversee 28 matches in the Midlands with Beale by his side, recording 10 wins and five draws and boasting a win percentage just short of 36%. Following Beale's departure, Gerrard would manage just three more victories in all competitions, as six defeats from 12 matches, ending in a 3-0 loss away at Fulham, left him with a 25% win percentage without his former assistant and cost him his job.
Now it would be simplistic to blame Villa’s loss of form this year purely on Beale’s departure. Gerrard appointed an equally highly-rated former Reds coach in Neil Critchley, who had shone as manager of Blackpool, to replace him, after all, while a number of factors played their part in his Thursday night dismissal.
Long-term injuries suffered by signings Diego Carlos, Boubacar Kamara and Lucas Digne, as well a plethora of anonymous displays from Philippe Coutinho, left Gerrard having to make do with putting a side together predominantly from the misfiring squad, which he felt wasn’t good enough, predecessor Dean Smith left behind.
Meanwhile, he failed to ever truly build a connection with the Villa fanbase, many of whom never wanted boyhood Villan Smith to lose his job in the first place. After dropping popular captain Tyrone Mings and stripping him of the captaincy, the knives started being sharpened as supporters waited for their now former manager to fail.
But Beale’s importance to Gerrard can also not be overlooked, with his departure admittedly still keenly felt.
While former Liverpool midfielder Gary McAllister might have been the most high-profile member of the backroom staff the Reds legend put together at Ibrox and brought with him to Villa Park, Beale was arguably his most important signing despite being one that went under the radar.
Enjoying a 10-year stint with Chelsea, initially part-time back in 2003, before ending up as a full-time youth coach, Beale worked under Jose Mourinho, Carlo Ancelotti and Guus Hiddink. He’d be responsible for developing players such as Mason Mount, Reece James, Callum Hudson-Odoi, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Tammy Abraham, as well as Declan Rice - all who are now senior England internationals - with such a track-record earning him a move to Liverpool.
Initially overseeing the Under-16s, he was promoted to the Under-23s in 2014, with Trent Alexander-Arnold and Curtis Jones the two star names out of 18 of his players who were handed first team debuts by Jurgen Klopp in the space of two years.
He'd leave for Sao Paulo in 2017 where he served as assistant manager to Rogerio Ceni. Initially struggling with the language, the stint would only be brief and would prove most beneficial to his own development.
“I learned many things about how South Americans view football and I can also now take a training session in Portuguese,” he told These Football Times . “This is amazing knowledge for me to have personally.
“The experiences and moments you have, such as playing in huge derbies and difficult weather conditions, make you a bigger and stronger coach. I feel that I am 50 percent stronger as a coach for this experience I had.”
A brief return to Liverpool followed before Gerrard, then Under-18s coach at Anfield, came calling after taking over at Rangers. Gerrard had admitted in the past that he had been eyeing up his coaching team long before his Ibrox appointment, with Beale someone he had long since had his eye on.
"What I'll never do is try to do someone else's job when they are better than me at doing it," Gerrard told The Robbie Fowler Podcast . “It would take me 15 to 20 years to become as good as Michael Beale as an on-pitch coach, delivering sessions on a daily basis, so I let Mick be Mick because he's the expert."
“People always ask me: ‘Is Steven a coach or is he a manager?’” Beale revealed when explaining how the pair complemented each other when speaking to Coaches’ Voice . “Well, there are different types of coaches.
“You can be a tactician, a developer, a technical coach, or a leader and motivator. He’s very much in the leader-manager role, and I’m very much in a development, field coach role.
“Steven’s a very talented field coach, and he’ll dip his toe in here and there, but he likes to stand back and see the whole group. “I like to get right in the middle. That means he’ll see things I never see. My grey area, or my weakness, is definitely his strength.
“I’ve found the perfect environment and manager for me. Steven enables me to coach and to share my ideas with him, and put that into the team.
“He includes me in everything, from recruitment to how we should change things at the training ground, and what I think about the presentation for the game.”
Beale greatly appreciated the responsibility to deliver sessions that he was given by Gerrard, and thrived at the challenge of improving sides tactically, with that time on the training pitch creating a lasting impact on the players he has coached.
Former Rangers forward Kyle Lafferty was quoted on Open Goal saying Beale is "the brains behind it all", while Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher said "you knew straight away he was a top coach."
Meanwhile, ex-Rangers midfielders Andy Halliday and Greg Docherty have also given glowing endorsements of Beale, with the former telling The Athletic "he is probably the best coach I've worked under" and Docherty adding that he is the most "devoted" person to football he has ever seen.
Beale admittedly found the tag that he was ‘the brains’ of the set-up a little awkward and uncomfortable. Given the issues Gerrard supposedly had with his dressing room after his treatment of Mings, perhaps that’s where his exit stung most.
He knew it was coming though, of course, with his former assistant never shy to admit his own future ambitions.
“It’s not exactly where I thought I would be at the age of 38, told Coaches’ Voice four years ago. “I was 20 when I started coaching. Right from the start, I said: ‘I’m going to knock down every wall until I’m 40, and then at 40 I’m going to be a manager.’
“I wanted to be a manager outside England. I was very clear on that. Back then, I felt that English players and coaches weren’t respected around Europe. Bobby Robson and Terry Venables were huge role models for me, because they had gone overseas and won that respect. That’s what I wanted.
“At the start, it was an obsession. I’ve still got the dream of managing outside England one day. I’d still like to be an under-18s coach – the one job I’ve never done – and, when I’ve got a few more grey hairs, I’d like to be a head of youth.
“But I’m not chasing these things. I’m not exactly where I thought I’d be at 38. I’ve already gone well beyond that.”
While Beale’s obsession might be to manage abroad, Gerrard’s is to take over at his beloved Liverpool one day. Yet his sacking from Aston Villa has admittedly pushed him further away from such a goal.
Previously touted as a potential replacement for Klopp, he will need to choose his next move wisely as he looks to rebuild his reputation and find a way without Beale by his side. He’ll learn from his Villa Park misadventure, no doubt, but his first managerial role in the Premier League has proven to be a case of one step forward, two steps back.
In contrast, eyes will increasingly focus on Beale in the future following his Wolves rebuttal. As QPR look to win promotion to the Premier League, the dismissive suggestion that he was Gerrard’s ‘brains’ following this Aston Villa managerial change will only continue as both men’s fortunes are watched with increased scrutiny.
With Klopp now contracted to Liverpool until 2025, it would be a surprise if Gerrard found himself in a position to take over the Reds in three years’ time. Had his Aston Villa reign ended more successfully, he would have been a favourite for the role, but now he must forge a longer path back to Anfield, if he is to ever make such a return at all.
Yet perhaps we were all looking in the wrong place when speculating who could replace Liverpool’s legendary German manager? Given Beale’s initial success in the Championship after leaving Gerrard’s side, a Premier League move surely looms in his future.
With aspirations to manage abroad, the highly-rated coach could increasingly make himself a contender for elite managerial roles in the years ahead. While he is still only navigating his first season alone, could Beale actually emerge as a contender to take over at Anfield himself?
Reds bosses could well be watching his career with great interest as they tentatively ponder what life after Klopp could look like.
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