"I accused the ref of something"; Beale admits Kennedy got under his skin in Celtic Park clash

By John McGinley

December 4, 2022

New Rangers manager Michael Beale admits Celtic coach John Kennedy managed to get under his skin in a 2019 derby flare-up at Celtic Park, which resulted in Beale being sent off from the touchline.

Clips of the incident have been doing the rounds since his arrival at Ibrox last week, which shows Kennedy reacting calmly and coolly to a bizarre Beale outburst.

Asked about the incident by The Sunday Post [04/12 print edition, Post Match supplement page 9], Beale said: “The situation at Celtic Park when I got sent off was a strange one. For years, I’d been coming up to SFA courses and one of the constants was John Kennedy. I always met him on the courses.

“In that moment, I assumed he said something I wouldn’t have liked him to say – and I told him that. You get carried away and I accused the ref of something you can’t do.

“It was just that game, that moment. Just two minutes before, I was so calm. I’m a little bit more mature now for that. It was part of my learning.”

Rangers managed to win that particular derby encounter but Celtic went on to win the Scottish Premiership, so Kennedy undoubtedly had the last laugh.

Beale is clearly trying to brush it off as a small moment, but it will be interesting to see whether he can keep a lid on his emotions in upcoming matches against the Bhoys.

As we know, Ange Postecoglou is not one to get involved in these kinds of spats, so it’d be amusing to see Beale lose his composure again now that all the focus is on him.

It’s up to Celtic to pile the pressure on our rivals before, during and after these derbies.

In other news, Alistair Johnston makes it clear how big a factor Ange Postecoglou is in Celtic negotiations.