Fans have a right to voice their displeasure says Ibrox boss Michael Beale

Michael Beale says periods of discontent among the fans was always going to be part of life at Rangers as he looks to end the season on a high.

A cloud of negativity descended over Ibrox after the 2-1 Viaplay Cup final defeat by Celtic at Hampden Park on February 26, thickened by the fact that Gers trail their Old Firm rivals by nine points at the top of the league.

After kick-off in the 3-1 cinch Premiership win over Kilmarnock at Ibrox on Saturday, a section of the Gers support held up a banner aimed at the board which read: ‘After fifty five titles you took your eye off the ball. Time for change.’

The message received a round of applause from the stands. The cup final setback was Beale’s first defeat as Rangers boss in 15 games.

Ahead of the trip to Easter Road to play Hibs tomorrow, when asked if the banner was a concern, Beale said: ‘It is not. The fans are entitled to make their feelings known, they support the team at other times fantastically.

‘They pay their money and they come. We would be a lot worse off without our fans.

‘I’d like us all together but I understand, at times, there is going to be discontent. When we lose a cup final in the way that we played, in the days after you are going to see a reaction.

‘It is vital you see a reaction from the players and I thought, certainly in the first half, but for the majority of the game on Saturday, we got that and that’s all my players can do.

‘I have got to try to keep all that away from them, that’s my job.

‘It is a heavy shirt at times but it is a great opportunity to play for our club and with it comes great expectation.

‘They are aware, we have spoken about it and they are massively disappointed but we have to move forward.

‘We need to win as many of these next 13, 14 games as we can, we want to retain the Scottish Cup.

‘I said before I came into the job I wanted to settle everything down.

‘We did that for a number of weeks and played poorly in one game and everything exploded but that’s fine.’

Beale said he has no fresh injury worries ahead of the Hibs clash as he singled out recent signing Todd Cantwell and striker Antonio Colak for praise.

‘We now need to keep moving forward,’ he added. ‘It is a big week. We have a tough test on Wednesday and then the Raith cup tie at the weekend.

‘Antonio Colak is in a good place physically and mentally after the match at the weekend.

‘I’ve been delighted with Todd Cantwell. He hasn’t played a lot of football but he is super fit. His work ethic and willingness to win the ball back is good. He is an interesting player behind the striker or playing further back to unlock a team.’

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