Sakala felt ‘disrespected’ by Rangers after Beale banished him from training

Emotional Fashion Sakala has lifted the lid on his Rangers exit and told how he felt disrespected by Michael Beale in his final weeks at the club.

The Zambian attacker made a money-spinning move to Saudi Arabian side Al-Fayha during the summer after two years in Glasgow. But Sakala believes his time in Govan was cut short far too early after revealing he was banished from training by Beale, shattering his dreams of becoming a mainstay in the former Ibrox manager’s new-look side.

“I went back to pre-season in Germany and it was a big surprise because my pictures were not taken”, he told the Herald. “I was scoring beautiful goals and my goals were not published. I could see my friends celebrating goals. When we had a team meeting, my answers were not allowed to be published.

“People started asking if I was there in pre-season. I was there from the beginning to the end. It was a hard one to take for me. Even if there was a club that wanted to buy me, I could have at least been respected a little bit and leave the club in a good way. Rangers was a club that I felt was like my home and receiving that treatment was so hard for me.”

Sakala’s version of events is in stark contrast to Beale, who claimed the relationship he had with the 26-year-old was “maybe even stronger than with anyone else in the group”. While Beale publicly declared their bond was “really close”, it’s clear that the feeling wasn’t mutual.

Sakala said: “That was the hard one. When I was coming back for the new season, I thought the coach would trust me and want me there for the new season. He didn’t talk to me about anything or any transfers.

“He clearly showed me that I wasn’t part of his plans without telling me anything. The time I received a call from Mick Beale was when he told me not to come to the training ground anymore. That was hard to take for me because I didn’t do anything.

“Players leave clubs but they are not told not to go to the training ground, not told not to be part of the team. I stayed without training with the club for almost two weeks.”

In August, Sakala eventually moved on to the riches of the Middle East where he’s now enjoying life again. Just two months later, Beale was sacked after a disastrous start to the campaign. For Sakala, there’s probably a sense of ‘what if?’ as he looks back on his Ibrox career. But one thing’s for sure, the way he left the club felt like a dagger in the heart.

He added: “I think I deserved much better, I deserved to be respected at least. I understand you want to sell me to get money to buy new players, that is fine. But let me just be part of the team, let me say goodbye nicely to my team-mates.

“When I received a call that I shouldn’t go to the training ground anymore, I didn’t see any of my team-mates anymore. It was hard to say goodbye in such a bad way to people who looked after me so well – Tavernier, Goldson – I had to talk to them on phones when it was time to leave. It was hard for them to believe that I wasn’t allowed to go to the training ground anymore.”