The pair have worked together at Ibrox, Aston Villa and Al-Ettifaq and questions have been raised over another Rangers reunion
20:01, 10 Mar 2025
Rangers manager Steven Gerrard (right) with coach Michael Beale
Rangers manager Steven Gerrard (right) with coach Michael Beale(Image: SNS Group)
Michael Stewart reckons Steven Gerrard faces an "interesting" call on Michael Beale if he makes his return to Rangers.
The Liverpool icon has emerged as the early frontrunner to become the next permanent boss at Ibrox once again.
Article continues below
Barry Ferguson has stepped into the hot seat on an interim basis with the likes of Gerrard, Rafa Benitez and Kevin Muscat floated as contenders to land the job on a permanent basis this summer.
Should title-winning gaffer Gerrard be given the nod for the hot seat, he would face a decision over his former assistant Beale.
Gerrard worked with Beale at Rangers and took Beale with him for Aston Villa in 2021 just months after lifting the Scottish Premiership.
The Londoner would leave the Premier League to go it alone at QPR before finding his way back to Rangers as boss - where he failed to lift any silverware after replacing Gio van Bronckhorst despite splashing the cash during a major summer overhaul.
Beale would then be reunited with Gerrard at Al-Ettifaq in November as he looked to kickstart his career follow a miserable 12-game stint in charge of Sunderland.
However, the move to the Saudi Pro League would not work out for either party - with Gerrard being shown the door by Ettifaq in January with the club facing a relegation scrap.
But amid talk of a return to Rangers ramping up, Stewart felt that a tough question is rapidly approaching. He told the Scottish Football Social Club: "Recruitment has to be infinitely better. The actual game plan, all of that - it is such a big job on the hands of whoever comes in.
"And if Steven Gerrard comes in I would be very interested to see, does he bring Michael Beale back with him? I would have said no, up until he took him back out to Saudi just before he got the bullet."
Michael Beale has backed Steven Gerrard to get back into management
Michael Beale and Steven Gerrard while at Rangers(Image: SNS Group)
Host Darrell Currie chimed in: "It just shows you he can be pragmatic. It doesn't matter who has been therefore, where they have been before if he thinks they can help him."
Stewart went on: "He can be pragmatic, but what would the Rangers supporters think?"
Asked if the Ibrox diehards would care, former Rangers star Alan Hutton wasn't convinced that Beale would be open to the idea of reuniting with Gerrard again in Glasgow.
Article continues below
He said: "Possibly. It's a difficult one. It's different being a manager to coming back in and just being a number two.
"Is that something he would feel that he would want to do? I'm not so sure. 100 per cent for me, when Gerrard and Beale were together it has been proven that it worked. I don't know, it's an interesting one."