LES FERDINAND has opened up on Michael Beale’s exit from QPR and how his move to Rangers transpired.
The former Light Blues gaffer had options on the table when he was manager of the Loftus Road club and had teams knocking on the door to try and tempt him to leave.
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Wolves were extremely interested in bringing the manager to the Molineux Stadium and approached Ferdinand – who was director of football at the time – in October 2022.
Beale was well aware of the interest but Ferdinand convinced him to stay at Loftus Road, despite the lure of Premier League money.
However, while the former Premier League striker was delighted to see him commit his future to the club, he knew it was the end when Rangers came calling just a few weeks later.
Ferdinand told the Overlap: “I think there were a lot of clubs that had looked at Michael, but didn’t take the chance because he hadn’t been a number one.
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“He came through the door at QPR and all of a sudden everyone was going: ‘Oh wow, this is what we thought he could be’.
“Then Wolves came in on the day we were playing Hull at home.
“I spoke to the CEO, he called me and said: ‘Can you believe they’ve called on a matchday?’ So I said: ‘No problem.’
“After the game, I go down and said to Michael: ‘We need to say something here because this is going to be in the press tomorrow’.
“So he goes: ‘Listen, I didn’t know it was happening today’. I said to him: ‘Mike, if you want you and me to carry on being friends, don’t lie to me. I’ve not lied to you the whole time you’ve been at this football club’.
“He said: ‘Well look, I knew they were coming in but I didn’t think it was going to be today’.
“I asked him what he wanted to do. I said: ‘I’m the director of football at QPR and I don’t want you to leave this football club. Where we’re going, there’s no chance I want you to leave’.
“I had my QPR blazer on so I took it off and threw it to the side. I said: ‘Now, I’m Les Ferdinand talking to you. You’ve got to do the best thing for you and your family‘.
“He said to me: ‘Now that you’ve done that, you’ve taken the badge out of play and talked to me like a human being, I can’t leave this football club’.
“Obviously, he was being offered Premier League wages. He asked if there was any way we could change the structure.
“So I went to the owners and they were willing to change the structure for him.
“And then Rangers came in… To be honest with you, when he came to the football club – and we’ve all been at football clubs that we’ve enjoyed, I had fond memories of Newcastle – Michael has fond memories of Rangers Football Club.
“Whenever he spoke about any of the clubs he’d been at, Rangers was the one he always spoke about with the most fondness.
“I said to the owners: ‘If we’re going to lose Michael Beale between now and a year or two time, I think it might be to Rangers. I think that’s the only club’.
“Unbeknown they were going to come in, and they soon did. I think the appeal of what had happened and him thinking ‘This might never come around again’.
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“You know what it’s like, someone comes to you and says ‘I’m interested in this’, you know their head and their heart is somewhere else.”
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