THE one that he played a part in is still a source regret for Michael Beale. The one that he had to watch on is a source of guilt.

Hampden has not always been a happy hunting ground for Beale and he returns this afternoon for the most significant occasion in a fledgling managerial career. If he can mastermind victory over Celtic in the Viaplay Cup final, he is off and running as a boss in his own right.

The fixture is a repeat of the first final that Beale, then a coach under Steven Gerrard, was part of at Rangers. The theme of it, in more ways than one, was opportunities missed as a plethora of spurned chances saw a dominant Rangers lose to a Christopher Jullien winner.

The fact that the effort was offside offered no consolation. And neither should it given that Rangers then, now and forever, are in the business of winning rather than taking part.

His memories of events at Hampden are naturally not pleasant ones to recall but Beale makes an effort to turn attentions to today and his message to Rangers will be to 'seize the moment, seize the opportunity' in a showdown that carries huge significance for all concerned.

“Going home that night there was a real frustration because we knew we had played quite well in the game," Beale said of the 2019 League Cup final. “We knew we had executed a lot of things that we wanted to.

“At that time our team was nowhere as experienced as the Celtic side in those situations. We didn’t execute in the penalty box and that was ultimately in our own hands.

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“Would their goal be given nowadays? But c’mon, we missed a penalty, missed big opportunities and Fraser Forster was man of the match on the day.

"But it’s a trophy they got and we didn’t. The only way to get past those days and over them is go on and pick up trophies moving forward.

"This group have now played in a Europa League Final and a Scottish Cup Final in the past calendar year. We are not short of experience now."

Those achievements have helped shape the squad that Beale will lead into action but they were, of course, undertaken with a different manager at the helm as Giovanni van Bronckhorst came within a penalty shoot-out of immortality at Ibrox.

The Dutchman's reign lasted just 12 months. Before it had even started, Rangers had been dumped out of the League Cup by Hibernian as Van Bronckhorst watched on from the stands and Beale tuned in from afar.

His first match at Villa Park - a 2-0 victory over Brighton - was the previous day and Beale believes you 'you saw the emotion of the whole group' in a 'strange game' as Rangers capitulated under the guidance of stand-in boss David McCallum. He admits to a sense of guilt as he watched it all unfold and that 'everyone has got a lot of regret around that day' as another bid to end the long wait for League Cup success came a premature end.

"Not great, to be honest," Beale said when asked how he felt watching the 3-1 defeat. "Not great. It is your team, it is your players, it’s your relationships and that is the way that football works. Opportunities come, they are taken for whatever reason.

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"History is either kind on you or it is not when you look back at the work that you do. I am going to be judged now as a manager. Back then I went under the radar a little bit because it was Steven’s team and then Gary’s. But, yeah, it wasn’t a nice game to watch."

The Gerrard era had provided growth and glory and the end of it was a time of uncertainty. The new dawn under Van Bronckhorst delivered memories and a medal but Beale is now the man leading the club, a prospect he would have labelled as 'crazy' in the aftermath of Rangers beating PSV Eindhoven to secure Champions League football.

There was a feeling in November 2021 that Beale was destined to be Rangers manager one day. Could it have been right there and then, could he have stayed at Ibrox after Gerrard left?

"No it wasn’t discussed," Beale said. "Those things were very much above my head."

The Rangers job has always been in Beale's mind, though. His standing in the eyes of Queens Park Rangers supporters was tarnished when he committed himself to Loftus Road and then moved to Ibrox just days later after turning down the chance to become Wolves manager.

Les Ferdinand, the Rs director of football, claimed earlier this month that Beale was offered the role when Gerrard left but that he chose to go with his boss to Villa because he felt it was the right thing to do.

"Gio took the job and did fantastically well," Beale said when asked about the comments from Ferdinand. "I think it would have been… yeah, it is not something worth talking about.

"It wasn’t the right moment for me to be manager of Rangers, I had to go away and get experience to be a manager, I had to go and grow and learn. It would have been a risk for the club.

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"I think it would have been the wrong moment for me as well. I went down to work at Aston Villa, a fantastic club, in the summer I chose to go to QPR and then life comes at you quickly.

"I always said that if the job as manager of Rangers was offered to me I would never turn it down at any moment.

"It wouldn’t be about finance or anything else, it would be about the opportunity to be manager of this club. It is a fantastic opportunity that I have been given."

What has been said and done cannot be changed. The next 90 minutes is all that Beale can focus on and influence but his work is far bigger than just one final, no matter who it is against or what it would mean.

He doesn't like the use of 'rebuild' when it comes to the transformation of the squad in the summer as he seeks to evolve and grow on what he calls his 'journey' as manager. The situations he inherited in May 2018 and last December are 'night and day' in terms of infrastructure and the level of player as Rangers attempt to compete on the continent and dominate domestically once again.

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The final question put to him in an intriguing interview references the idiom of 'making bones' in a Mafia-style process to establish credibility. Beale needs no reminding about the prices of success and failure at Ibrox.

"No because I won here before as an assistant and I’ve lost here before also," Beale said. "I get what this is.

“What I’m trying to do every day is make the players better, make the team stronger, play nicer football, try to align everyone — the fans and the players — together, try to recruit players that can make this club stronger. That gives you best opportunity.

“All we can do is take care of ourselves. We have played 14 games and won 13. We’re unbeaten in 14, so it’s so far, so good.

“I know I’m going to be judged on days like this but I want to be judged at the end of my time at Rangers. There’s no point winning this weekend and not winning again.

“If we lose this weekend nobody is going to give me grace if we win the Scottish Cup. They’ll still say ‘he should have won the League Cup’.

“So, in history, I’m hoping we can look back and I can show that I’ve taken this club forward positively. That’s what I’m here to do."