ALLY MCCOIST has admitted he was slightly surprised to see Michael Beale appointed as Rangers manager - as he expected the club to go with a more experienced boss.

Ibrox hero McCoist had thought the board would favour an appointment similar in stature to Sean Dyche.

However, he pledged his full backing to Beale as he warned the new boss will be judged for his performance against Celtic.

McCoist defended Giovanni van Bronckhorst's Rangers record in general citing Celtic results as the main reason for his dismissal - with the ex-Rangers boss also mentioning his own managerial exit from the club.

"The job, I thought they might have gone for more experience," admitted McCoist on talkSPORT.

"I genuinely did. I thought they might have gone for Sean Dyche or somebody like that.

"But obviously Michael's coaching the players under Steven's managership has gone a long way.

"The board have obviously thought he knows the players well, I get that also. There is an element of he knows Celtic, he's going to be judged against Celtic, that's the bottom line.

"The sacking of Giovanni van Bronckhorst will tell you one thing, that Rangers and Celtic managers are only judged against each other because Van Bronckhorst's record apart from results against Celtic has been alright. I know that better than most.

"I think we are now at the stage that Michael Beale has to get the respect and support from every Rangers fan, that goes without saying."

McCoist also weighed in on the criticism Beale has come under for his trip to Ibrox to watch the win over Aberdeen in October.

The then QPR manager travelled back to Ibrox as a guest to watch the match, but McCoist reckons it looked bad with pressure building on Van Bronckhorst.

He added: "There are a couple people speaking about a couple of incidents when he was up. He came up to see a game and the timing was poor, really poor because Van Bronckhorst was under pressure.

"He came up to the game and I accept his explanation for it because it was a trip that had been organised for a while, however, it didn't look good to people within the game.

"But the decision has been made and the Rangers support have to get behind Michael Beale and we all will."

Beale had come under flak from Simon Jordan yesterday over his move to Rangers with the pundit claiming the appointment was a risk and branded the manager a "Johnny-come-lately".

McCoist reckons his talkSPORT colleague was harsh in his comments but suggested Beale will regret his integrity and loyalty comments from when he knocked back a Wolves approach to remain at QPR.

He said: "I think it is probably a little bit harsh. I hear where Simon is coming from in terms of..I think he's indicating that he's not too happy with one or two things perhaps Michael said regarding staying at his job in QPR when he got offered the Wolves job.

"He probably said a couple of things that he will now regret looking back, saying it's all about loyalty and that kind of thing.

"But I harp back and I say, you know, with the greatest of respect that's what happens. There was an element of the same thing when Steven left for Aston Villa.

"Steven won the title, massive title for Rangers and there was obviously a lot of interest about going to clubs down south and he was asked effectively is it interesting or is he happy at Rangers and you know, he said he was absolutely happy at Rangers.

"Then within a week he was away to Villa but these things happen. I get it, these things happen. I think that is an indication on what Simon is getting at on Michael Beale.

"He would regret saying that because it does look bad."

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