Michael Beale's first game as Rangers manager has been cancelled.

The Light Blues were due to take on Swansea City in a closed-doors friendly.

It was a game that was due to take place at the club's Auchenhowie training complex.

The 42-year-old has decided against taking part in the fixture to give him more time to work with his players.

His first game will instead come the following week against Bayer Leverkusen at Ibrox.

The match takes place on Saturday, December 10 and kick-off is at 1pm.

Competitive actions returns five days later when Beale's men take on Hibernian as they look to get their Scottish Premiership campaign back on track.

Meanwhile, the Englishman has revealed he will further add to his Rangers backroom team in the coming weeks.

The new Ibrox boss brought a trio of QPR coaches north with him as he was appointed the 18th permanent manager in the club's history.

Neil Banfield, Damian Matthew and Harry Watling all followed Beale to Glasgow from QPR.

But Beale is already plotting further additions to his backroom team after Giovanni van Bronckhorst and his support staff left the club.

"There will be more to come," he told Sky Sports

"There will be one or two more additions in the coming weeks which will be important as well in the support staff because a lot of staff left.

"There has been a lot of change in the club in the last two years with Steven and myself and Gary and that staff leaving after a hugely emotional period.

"And that has just happened again."

Beale's backroom team already boasts major experience from work at Chelsea, Arsenal and West Ham.

And the new Ibrox manager reckons that will bolster his ambition at Rangers and add some "grey hairs" after he was criticised over his managerial experience to date.

Beale has come under some scrutiny after being appointed just five months after his first role as a manager in his own right.

However, he defended his experience as he cited his previous stint working under Steven Gerrard and assisting in more than 200 games at Rangers.


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