Former Rangers head coach Michael Beale has claimed he could've had better decision-making in his three jobs as a manager if 'loads of snakes' hadn't come out of the woodwork.

The ex-QPR, Gers and Sunderland boss appeared on the latest episode of Inside the Academy.

Before joining Steven Gerrard as his first team coach at Ibrox in 2018, Beale of course worked in the youth systems at Liverpool and Chelsea, so his eye for player development at that stage of the process is undeniable. 

But towards the end of the podcast, which is a little shy of 90 minutes long, Beale took the chance to take a cryptic pop at those who disrupted his time as a manager, whether it be QPR, Rangers or Sunderland.

"Around a couple of the moves I've had as a manager, I saw loads of snakes and people come out of the woodwork," the 44-year-old said. "And I didn't like it.

"It made me comfortable, and perhaps I would've made better decisions if those people weren't around, but that's for another time.

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"Ultimately, I'm very, very fortunate that I've been a manager at QPR, Glasgow Rangers, 52,000 (fans), Sunderland, 44,000 in the Championship. 

"I've worked in the Premier League, I've worked in Serie A and I've worked in over 60 games in Europe across the Europa League and Champions League. 

"So I have 257 games in the system, 77 games as a manager and at 44 years of age I feel like I'm at the start of my career.

"In that sense, I still feel like I'm a young coach."

Beale spoke at great length and detail about the process of taking kids through the academy set-up and eventually into the first team at different clubs he worked at during his extensive experience in youth set-ups earlier in his career.