Michael Beale at risk of his Rangers fantasy coming true as Rodgers joke becomes rivals' reality – Hugh Keevins

I wrote here last Sunday that the scale of the beating suffered by the loser in the Old Firm derby at Ibrox would determine the size of the backlash that followed.

I was wrong. In the end, all it took was one goal for Celtic to provoke pandemonium among the Rangers supporters suffering from the equivalent of repetitive strain syndrome when it comes to their greatest rivals. And I use the word advisedly. My birth certificate will verify I have been around the block enough times to cause severe dizziness.

Jimmy McGrory and Scot Symon were the managers of Celtic and Rangers respectively when I saw my first Old Firm game. But the ferocious nature of what followed Rangers’ loss last weekend has taken even a veteran venom measurer by surprise. And I wasn’t the only one. Steve Clarke’s No.2 John Carver delivered a chilling eye-witness account of people trying to infiltrate the directors’ box at full-time while outraged others charged the front door of the stadium as he was attempting to leave.

How all of that impacted on Michael Beale can only be guessed at. And yet he’s being told he must deliver immediate improvement in team performance, as well as the first trophy of the season and an upgrade in European standards, against this background of open hostility towards him.

Football’s the only game where someone like Beale is supposed to restore order out of chaos while at the same time trying to withstand a day-by-day, game-by-game frenzy on an incremental basis. And have that thankless task described as simply being part of his job description.

Brendan Rodgers acknowledged as much when Celtic’s manager said in the immediate aftermath of his team’s win that it had removed him from “death watch”. He was joking – but being