Michael Beale (football coach)
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | 4 September 1980 | ||
| Place of birth | Bromley, England | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team | Queens Park Rangers (manager) | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Years | Team | ||
| 1998–2001 | Charlton Athletic | ||
| 2001 | FC Twente | ||
| Managerial career | |||
| 2012–2014 | Liverpool U16 | ||
| 2014–2017 | Liverpool U23 | ||
| 2017 | São Paulo (assistant) | ||
| 2017–2018 | Liverpool U23 | ||
| 2018–2021 | Rangers (assistant) | ||
| 2021–2022 | Aston Villa (assistant) | ||
| 2022– | Queens Park Rangers | ||
Michael Beale (born 4 September 1980) is an English football coach who is currently manager of Championship side Queens Park Rangers. Beale was assistant manager to Steven Gerrard at Rangers and Aston Villa. He has also coached at Chelsea, Liverpool and São Paulo.
Career
Playing career and introductions into coaching
Beale's playing career started at Charlton Athletic, after being released by Charlton, he had short trials at FC Twente in the Netherlands, and at clubs in the United States, before calling an end to his playing days at the age of 21.[1]
Beale's next step in football was to invest some of the money he had made as a youth player into setting up a futsal club for children in his hometown of Bromley, East London.[2] It was while training children here, that he caught the attention of Chelsea Academy boss Neil Bath, who in 2002, offered him a role as a part-time youth coach at their Cobham Training Centre.[3] As a coach of Chelsea's Under-7s and Under-9s squads, he worked with future Premier League footballers Tammy Abraham and Dominic Solanke.[1]
After admitting to becoming somewhat frustrated with the lack of progression of young players into Chelsea's first team since the takeover of Roman Abramovich in 2003,[1] Beale took an offer to work at the Liverpool Academy, beginning as the coach of the Under-16s team, before progressing to become coach of the Under-23s. It was in this role that Beale first worked alongside Steven Gerrard, who was coaching the Liverpool Under-18s at the time.[4]
Assistant Manager roles
In January 2017, Beale, a long-time fan of South American football, took the opportunity to move to Brazilian club São Paulo, learning Portuguese to act as assistant to Rogério Ceni.[5] However, just six months later, Ceni and his backroom team were sacked after a string of poor results.[6]
After a short time back working with Liverpool's youth set-up, Beale was contacted by Steven Gerrard to act as his assistant manager at Rangers. In three years in Scotland under Gerrard, Beale and Gary McAllister, Rangers won their first Scottish Premiership in ten years, preventing arch rivals Celtic from winning ten in a row.[7]
In November 2021, Gerrard was offered the role of manager at Aston Villa, following the sacking of Dean Smith. Beale and McAllister followed him to the Premier League club.[8]
Move to first team management
On 1 June 2022, it was announced that he had departed Aston Villa to become the new Queens Park Rangers first team manager.[9][10]
References
- ^ a b c "The Road to Rangers - Michael Beale". Heart and Hand. 15 February 2020. Retrieved 27 May 2022.
- ^ "Meet the man behind Gerrard's success". BBC Sport. Retrieved 27 May 2022.
- ^ "Who is Michael Beale? The ex-Chelsea and Liverpool coach playing a key role in Gerrard's managerial career | Goal.com". www.goal.com. Retrieved 27 May 2022.
- ^ Preece, Ashley (26 May 2022). "Villa coach Michael Beale favourite to land vacant QPR manager job". BirminghamLive. Retrieved 27 May 2022.
- ^ Henson, Mike (13 February 2017). "Michael Beale interview: The Liverpool coach who moved to Sao Paulo". The Set Pieces. Retrieved 27 May 2022.
- ^ "Sao Paulo sack Rogerio Ceni after six months". ESPN.com. 3 July 2017. Retrieved 27 May 2022.
- ^ Townley, John (12 November 2021). "Michael Beale confirms Rangers future amid Aston Villa speculation". BirminghamLive. Retrieved 27 May 2022.
- ^ "Steven Gerrard: Rangers manager appointed Aston Villa head coach on three-and-a-half-year deal". Sky Sports. Retrieved 27 May 2022.
- ^ Webb, Matt (1 June 2022). "Michael Beale named QPR head coach". QPR. Retrieved 1 June 2022.
- ^ "Aston Villa confirm Michael Beale departure". Aston Villa Football Club. 1 June 2022. Retrieved 1 June 2022.