'Quite strange' - Rangers boss Michael Beale branded naive over Sutton and 'lucky' Postecoglou comments

Former Celtic star Kris Commons believes Rangers manager Michael Beale has shown “real naivety” for comments made in the media.

Beale earned praise for the work he has done on the field since replacing Giovanni van Bronckhorst, bringing a “sense of freedom” back to Ibrox. He has yet to lose a game yet, steering his team to 13 wins from 14 fixtures and into this weekend's Viaplay Cup final where they will face their rivals. However, recent comments made about Chris Sutton have dominated headlines.

The Rangers head coach referred to the former Celtic striker as a “comedy act” and "Chelsea's worst ever player". Sutton responded with tweets and dedicating his column in the Daily Record to the what was said. Commons believes “he let himself and his club down” and questioned previous comments made about Ange Postecoglou’s budget and how the Australian was a “lucky” man.

"I found that quite a strange thing for a Rangers manager to say," he wrote in the Daily Mail. “There's nothing 'lucky' about being the biggest and wealthiest club in the country. For all that Celtic have the biggest budget in the league, you've still got to spend it wisely and their recruitment over the past 18 months has been nothing short of outstanding.

"Beale then became embroiled in another bizarre off-field spat this week with Chris Sutton,” he said. "There was no need for it. Was he trying to play up to the fans? We all know that Sutton isn't exactly the most popular figure at Ibrox. Maybe Beale thought he could play up to the gallery and give the fans something to cheer if he was seen to have put Sutton in his place.

"But that's not how I view it at all. In the end, I think he just showed his inexperience as a manager by getting embroiled in a spat like that. Sutton loves that sort of stuff. He'll probably have been laughing his head off. He cast his fishing rod and ended up catching a whopper as Beale took the bait."

Commons added: “Beale has scored an own goal with his comments about Sutton. If a pundit can get under his skin and rattle him so easily, what might a free-flowing Celtic side do if they hit top form at Hampden?”