This piece is an extract from yesterday's Rangers Insider newsletter, which is emailed out at 5pm every weekday with a round-up of the day's top stories and exclusive analysis from the Rangers Review team.

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Since returning to the club at the tail end of November, Michael Beale has been a joy to listen to.

He lives and breathes football and his passion for the game oozes out of him. Therefore a bumper 50-minute interview given to Rangers TV simply flew in as he discussed his time in charge of the club thus far, the current contract situations surrounding certain players and his transfer plans.

As we’ve come to expect when he sits in front of a microphone, he provides numerous newsworthy lines which is always welcome for us journalists.

One big takeaway from his sit down with Emma Dodds and former Rangers midfielder Kevin Thomson was his opinion on the current first-team squad and the journey he wants to embark upon.

He admitted it was too big and needs streamlining. “We have too many players at this moment in time, in my opinion,” he said.

“There’s a reason why we’ve carried one or two more due to injuries, to supplement that.

“When I say too many, I look at the amount of boys we’ve got out on loan right now too. So when pre-season starts they’re all back in the building.

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“I want players to have real clarity on their role in the squad. It’s difficult the more players you have.

“If I look in the top leagues and top teams, you look at Arsenal at the minute, they’ve had the most consistent 11. I know from history, being at Liverpool, when they won that was the case as well. When we won the league, we had a core of seven or right that played.

“For me, with the amount of subs that we can have now in a matchday squad, I want everyone to feel involved and engaged in the squad. I want everyone to feel like their best days are in front of them and they know what the pecking order is to get in the team. They know what role they’ve got.”

Beale’s words are interesting and it’s hard to disagree with him. It’s a commonly held view that it’s an ageing squad that is in need of reinvigorating. Of the players out of contract in the summer, the likelihood is Allan McGregor, Steven Davis, Filip Helander and Scott Arfield will move on with Ryan Jack looking the most likely of the aforementioned quartet to pen a new deal.

Then there are the two high-profile players who are also nearing the end of their current deals in Ryan Kent and Alfredo Morelos. It remains to be seen if any or both extend their stays in Glasgow but the fact is this is a bloated squad that needs cut.

Rangers Review:

When Beale was first-team coach during the 55 title-winning campaign, 28 players featured at various points in the league. There were many who were support acts such as Bongani Zungu, Greg Stewart and Jack Simpson but there was a nucleus of 18 players who were major contributors throughout much of that invincible season. This year, 30 players have been used in the Premiership thus far, mainly due to the raft of injuries that decimated the squad in the first half of the season.

It’s the challenge Beale faces in the summer when he will aim to replicate the 2020-21 campaign. He has begun the likely overhaul with the acquisitions of Todd Cantwell and Nicolas Raskin who fit the age profile and calibre of player Rangers require to return to former glories.

He needs to add several more of similar ilk but there is a sense the club is on the right track with Beale at the helm and a potentially exciting summer awaits when he will mould the squad into his image.