Dan Bardell would emphatically not swap Rangers man Michael Beale for Unai Emery at Aston Villa
We’re delighted to welcome The Athletic’s Dan Bardell as our exclusive Aston Villa columnist each week he’ll be giving his views on the biggest talking points at the club…
Dan Bardell would “emphatically” not take Michael Beale back at Aston Villa in exchange for new boss Unai Emery, as the former coach takes charge at Rangers.
Beale arrived as Steven Gerrard’s assistant a year ago, after winning the Scottish title at Ibrox, but left to embark on his own managerial career at QPR in the summer and has now gone back to Glasgow after just 22 games in charge.
Having made a big point about his loyalty to QPR in turning down Wolves a month ago Bardell doesn’t think the 42-year-old is coming across well from the whole situation, and nor does any of it reflect particularly well on Gerrard either.
Speaking exclusively to Villa News he said: “I think the fact that Wolves and then Rangers have both looked at him doesn’t say much for Steven Gerrard.
“Especially Rangers, they didn’t look at getting Gerrard back, they looked at getting Beale. That probably tells you everything you need to know.
“Beale’s well respected and obviously he’s a good coach, but I don’t think he’s coming out of it well though.
“He came out and said a lot when he turned down the Wolves job and now he’s just completely backtracked because Rangers came in for him.
“I get that he’s got an affinity for the club and he’s spent time there but you can’t say the things he was saying when he turned down Wolves and then have any credibility when you take the Rangers job.
“It feels like he’s got quite a high opinion of himself. Although he’s a good coach I’m not convinced that the Villa squad really took to him personally.
“I wouldn’t swap him for Emery, absolutely no chance.
“Emphatically I wouldn’t to that.”
Beale has built quite a reputation as a coach, but hasn’t yet proven he can cut it as a manager in the same way, after his fine early season work at Loftus Road, which saw them sitting top of the Championship, gave way to a run of four defeats and a draw in his last eight games.
The Rs were seventh heading into the World Cup break, and he has now left to take over at Rangers in a move that hasn’t made him especially popular anywhere outside of Ibrox.
His influence at Villa was much more debatable than in Glasgow previously, as the Lions spent the majority of 2022 on an increasingly poor run of form that ultimately got Gerrard fired after Beale had left, so there was little from his spell at Villa Park to explain the clamour for him in recent months.
In other Aston Villa news, Gerrard was forced to endure the bus journey home after he was fired.