Michael Beale safe at Rangers for now as chairman John Bennett steps back from the bloodlust

Rangers chairman John Bennett will resist calls to sack Michael Beale during the international break despite the outpouring of fan fury following Sunday’s Old Firm defeat.

Record Sport understands Bennett is reluctant to be dragged into the ongoing bloodlust as the clamour grows for him to deliver the head of Beale on the back of a humbling Champions League exit in Eindhoven and a crushing derby loss to Celtic.

But while Bennett is determined to give Beale the benefit of the doubt in the short term, the Ibrox hierarchy are unlikely to allow the error-prone start to Beale’s first full season in charge to continue indefinitely. Which means the increasingly beleaguered boss will have to deliver an immediate upturn in results when the campaign restarts with an away trip to face St Johnstone in the league in 10 days’ time. Beale then faces a Europa League visit from Real Betis before another home game against Motherwell in the top flight on September 23 and a League Cup quarter final against Livingston at Ibrox four days later.

The under-fire Londoner will have to guide his team safely into the last four of that competition and avoid another European humiliation to prevent his own situation from becoming critical before the end of this month. With Aberdeen also making a trip to Glasgow on September 30, Beale will have to avoid any further concession of league points throughout this hectic period to have any chance of keeping both the supporters and the board on his side.

But having personally backed the manager’s massive rebuild over the summer, Bennett will be banking on Beale riding out that storm and going on to establish calm before the turn of the year. If Beale can negotiate a passage through to December without