Michael Beale in veiled Chris Sutton blast as Rangers boss hits out at 'comedy act' pundits

You suspect being considered football’s answer to Lord Voldemort could well appeal to Chris Sutton’s dark sense of humour.

In Michael Beale’s eyes, the former Celtic and Chelsea striker has become another figure Who Must Not Be Named, although you don’t need the wizardry skills of Harry Potter to figure out to whom the Rangers manager was referencing when he labelled certain pundits “comedy acts” who do nothing but “bring the game back down to the gutter”.

Sutton had praised Beale for his act of sportsmanship when he allowed Partick Thistle to stroll through unfettered for an equaliser in last weekend’s Scottish Cup tie at Ibrox after Malik Tillman had misconstrued Thistle’s attempts to play the ball back to Rangers and netted a contentious goal. The Five Live pundit, however, could not help but add a mischievous follow-up: would Beale have done the same in a match against Celtic? The Rangers manager did not miss with his reply.

“Listen, there are pundits that are comedy acts,” he said. “There are ex-players who are comedy acts. I don’t even want to answer that question because they are comedy acts and they are there to create intrigue.

Rangers manager Michael Beale during the club's official unveiling of New Edmiston House on Thursday. (Photo by Craig Williamson / SNS Group)

“They don’t speak about the betterment of the game. They don’t help our game at all. All they do is bring it back down to the gutter. There are a lot of good things we can speak about in our game at the moment, at other clubs as much as at my club. Why is that where they go? At the end of the day, we don’t know, do we?

“If I had allowed that goal to stand and we had gone through in the cup like that, what would that have done for Malik? What would that have said about me and our club?

“I think that day worked out about as well as it could have done when that situation happened. You see when people [react like] that I think we need to wise up in this country. There are people out there creating intrigue for intrigue reasons and those people, in my opinion, we need to mute them and quickly.

“Growing up, I was a fan of Chelsea. So there is one pundit around here who is the worst ever player to play for Chelsea. That is why I won’t mention his name because I try to forget him.”

Former Celtic player Chris Sutton questioned whether Rangers manager Michael Beale would have allowed his Old Firm rivals to score in similar circumstances to Partick Thistle last weekend. (Photo by Craig Williamson / SNS Group)

Beale admits Rangers’ title chances are slim at best at this juncture although they could yet finish the season as winners of both domestic cups. And the manager revealed that whatever happens between now and June will impact the extent of his transfer business in the summer.

“Between now and the end of the season, if we’re successful the rebuild’s not as big as what people said it was,” he added. “If we’re not successful then I think everybody’s on the chopping block, even myself. We’re at a club where the expectations are very big.

“If you’re part of our squad at the moment and we end this season not so well it might be time to change one or two. If we obviously do well, it keeps people away from the door and people believe in the route we’re going. I believe in this group or I wouldn’t have come back.”