Former Birmingham City and Scotland manager Alex McLeish believes Rangers coach Michael Beale would be tempted by the opportunity to go and ply his trade as a senior manager, speaking to Football Insider.

Beale, who currently works alongside Liverpool legend Steve Gerrard at Ibrox as the Scottish Premiership champions' first-team coach, is reportedly on Cardiff City's radar according to the BBC, as the Bluebirds look to find a successor for former boss Mick McCarthy.

This has been confirmed by Wales Online, who believe he is one potential candidate on the second-tier side's provisional shortlist, although ex-Chelsea assistant manager Jody Morris is currently leading the race with many officials at the Cardiff City Stadium thought to be keen on luring him to the Welsh capital.

 

 

Like Morris, this would be Beale's first senior manager job, having previously worked at Liverpool as a youth coach and becoming an assistant manager at Sao Paulo before going back to Anfield and moving on with Gerrard to the Glasgow-based side.

He would have the job of steering Cardiff away from the relegation zone if he was appointed, with the Bluebirds having lost their last eight league games and are only going one way based on their current form.

For a side that finished eighth in the second tier last term, this is disappointing, but McCarthy's successor's short-term aim will be to escape relegation at all costs in the situation they currently find themselves in.

One man who believes candidate Beale could be tempted to leave Rangers to take up a managerial post is ex-Birmingham boss McLeish, who said: "I know Steve’s (Gerrard) got Gary McAllister as his right-hand man and Beale is his head coach.

"He obviously thinks massively about Beale. There has been a new trend over the last few years of coaches, assistant coach or a coach in another position at the club, wanting to spread their wings to go and get the number one job.

"We’ve seen so many coaches over the last few years now coming through and being spectacularly good. That is probably something in Beale’s head.

"Someday he’s probably going to say to Stevie: ‘I want to try myself. I want to do a thing myself.’"

The Verdict:

Although Beale is in a comfortable position with Rangers at the moment, currently sitting at the top of the Scottish Premiership and under no pressure of being sacked, he would be likely to take the Cardiff job if it came his way.

You never know when that opportunity may come around again, so McLeish is right in saying that he would probably be tempted to move away from Rangers at some point and forge his own managerial career.

Under a talented young manager in Gerrard who has already done well with the Glasgow-based side, he has learnt from the best possible person and will have not only picked things up during his time at Liverpool and Rangers, but also at Sao Paulo where he was probably able to get a different perspective of the game.

He would be a completely different man to McCarthy - and for that reason - many fans of the second-tier side would probably welcome this potential appointment with open arms.

However, his inexperience as a manager will be a worry, concerns that some Bluebirds fans will have over favourite Morris who is yet to make the step up as a senior manager, despite big roles at Derby County and Chelsea.