Sam Jewell NOT offered Rangers DOF role as James Bisgrove makes Michael Beale sacking admission

Rangers chief James Bisgrove admits sacking Michael Beale was a painful process he hopes he won’t have to repeat “for a long, long time”.

The recently-appointed Ibrox CEO was only 63 days into his new role when he was forced to axe his close friend as Beale’s reshaped squad got off to a disastrous start to the season. But difficult as it was, Bisgrove admits he had no choice but to call time on Beale’s 11-month reign as Gers title-hopes were left hanging by a thread just two months into the new campaign.

Philippe Clement is now the man tasked with overhauling Celtic’s seven-point lead but Bisgrove hopes the Belgian will be at Ibrox for the long haul. He said: “We definitely don’t want to go through that process for a long, long time. On a personal level, Michael and I built a really good relationship because we spoke every single day.

“The CEO-football manager relationship was a really, really close one. But both Michael and I understood when we had that conversation that that is the nature of football and that is the nature of Rangers. We shook hands and I wish him well in his next venture in football and also his staff. They gave everything to this club and we wish them well wherever they go next on a personal and professional level.”

The departure of director of football Ross Wilson back in April left Beale in charge of the club’s £13million summer rebuild. But it’s proved to be a disaster so far with the bulk of the Londoner’s costly recruits yet to hit anywhere near top form.

Now Bisgrove says going forward the club will ensure that decision-making process does not rest so heavily on one man’s shoulders as he confirmed the appointment of a new director of football is next on his to-do list.

However, Ibrox insiders