Neil Banfield did the talking for Michael Beale yesterday but nobody should read too much into that. Nor, the Rangers assistant manager insists, should anyone doubt for a minute Beale can handle the heat that was so fierce on Sunday he felt the blast from the Ibrox furnace even in a win over Motherwell.
Banfield, the experienced coach who was Arsene Wenger’s trusted lieutenant for so long at Arsenal, has assumed media duties for the Viaplay Cup, where Gers host Livingston in a match that would almost certainly have drastic consequences for Beale should it be lost.
That’s the pressure the Gers boss is facing almost on a weekly basis at the moment but Banfield is adamant his young boss can deal with it.
He said: “100 per cent. If you speak to him in there, without a doubt he can get through this. He has a good staff who will support him and who speak with him. “He’s a young manager in terms of games but he has been involved in football a long, long time and has been in this situation before.