How Michael Beale has TRANSFORMED QPR into promotion hopefuls

Free-flowing football, innovative recruitment and a Brazilian flavour… how Steven Gerrard’s ‘special’ former right-hand-man Michael Beale has TRANSFORMED QPR into Championship promotion hopefuls, with the Hoops sitting in third place in the second tier

• Michael Beale was appointed as QPR manager ahead of the 2022-23 season
• Beale was previously Steven Gerrard’s assistant at both Rangers and Aston Villa 
• He has thrived at Loftus Road, as the Rs sit in third place in the Championship
• Meanwhile, Gerrard is under pressure at Villa and struggling without Beale 
• Sportsmail takes a look at how Beale transformed QPR into promotion hopefuls 

As the master’s stock has fallen, the apprentice’s has soared.

It was said that Steven Gerrard and Michael Beale could not work without each other.

But while Gerrard has struggled since his assistant left Aston Villa in the summer, Beale is flourishing in his first senior managerial position at QPR.

After almost a third of the campaign, the Rs are level on points with top two Sheffield United and Norwich and dreaming of a return to the top flight.

QPR manager Michael Beale is flourishing at the club having been appointed in the summer

The Rs sit in third place in the Championship, but are level on points with the top two

That is despite QPR having failed to even reach the Championship play-offs since they were relegated from the Premier League seven years ago.

So just how has Beale turned things around at Loftus Road?

A LEAP OF FAITH 

From the outside, it appeared a gamble. Replacing the experienced Mark Warburton with a 42-year-old who had never played professional football and had only coached youth teams or worked as a No2.

Likewise for Beale, it looked a risk to leave his relatively comfortable role with Gerrard in the Premier League to move to the Championship and take charge of a club who had been through seven managers in as many years.

But as Beale told talkSPORT this week: ‘I didn’t see it as a gamble, I saw it as fulfilling a dream and an aspiration to become a head coach. I have had 250 games as an assistant, so I felt like I was overly equipped for the job.’

Beale had previously been Steven Gerrard’s assistant at both Rangers and Aston Villa

Aston Villa and Argentinian goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez hailed Beale’s coaching abilities 

Ask any player at Rangers or Aston Villa, and they would have told you Beale was ready for the step up.

Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez once said: ‘It’s the first time in 14 to 15 years of my career that the assistant coach does all the talking. He does all the training sessions, he takes all the important meetings.

‘He knows so much about football, it’s just incredible. With Michael, we felt him and Stevie G are both the managers.’

BARGAIN HUNTING 

Beale overhauled QPR’s squad in the summer without spending a penny. He made seven new signings, all on free transfers or loans, while shipping out 14 players from last season’s squad.

Two key additions have been at full back. Ethan Laird has impressed on loan from Manchester United, while Dutch left-back Kenneth Paal appears a real find from PEC Zwolle.

Beale was also able to keep hold of QPR’s key men, including forwards Chris Willock and Ilias Chair.

QPR’s squad is full of young talents such as Morccan attacking midfielder Ilias Chair 

Chris Willock is also shining, with the former Arsenal youngster netting six times this season

‘They had some players that really excited me from afar, that I felt I could almost see some of my own ideas in the team,’ said Beale. ‘Ultimately it’s a young group and I am used to working with young groups of players.’

That might be the case, but Beale also added experience in the form of 34-year-old centre-back Leon Balogun from his old club Rangers. In the four matches he has started, QPR have kept three clean sheets.

 JUST LIKE WATCHING BRAZIL

After Warburton’s safety-first approach, QPR are much more free-flowing under Beale.

He has ditched the back three from last year and switched to a 4-3-3 formation, like he deployed with Gerrard at Rangers and Villa.

Under his system, his frontline is flourishing. Willock, who was injured at the end of last season, has scored six goals in nine games.

Beale was Gerrard’s right-hand-man on the coaching pitch when they worked together 

Beale’s attacking philosophy, though, should surprise no one. After all, he began his coaching career teaching children to play futsal – a South American game which uses a smaller, harder ball and places emphasis on control and creativity.

He later moved to Brazil to be Rogerio Ceni’s assistant at Sao Paulo and he appears to have brought the Samba influence to his work in west London.

‘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,’ said Gerrard on The Robbie Fowlers Podcast earlier this year.

‘A lot of people won’t have a clue what Michael Beale does on the training pitch, but what he does is really quite special.’

FEELING AT HOME

‘I AM a London boy so I am aware of QPR and what Loftus Road can be when it’s at its best,’ said Bromley-born Beale this week.

He even has family connections with the club, as their late former manager Ray Harford is a cousin of his grandmother.

‘My nan lives in Kent and we’re really close,’ Beale told Sportsmail in the summer. ‘When I told her I was coming to QPR, she said, “Raymond worked there, he’ll be looking down on you”.’

Beale has family connections with the club, as their late former manager Ray Harford is a cousin of his grandmother, while he also grew up in London

Manchester United loanee Ethan Laird has impressed since his move to the club this summer

Well, things are certainly now looking up for QPR, but Beale is keen not to get carried away. He recalls how last season they were fourth until March before falling away and finishing 11th.

Even still, Beale is ambitious and will not rest until he is taking on his old mentor Gerrard in the big league. As he told Sportsmail when he first took charge: ‘This is the challenge to push to the Promised Land.’

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