Michael Beale's filleting shows up Sutton's Rangers trolling

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By questioning Michael Beale’s integrity over the uncontested Partick Thistle goal at Ibrox, Chris Sutton knew exactly what he was doing. It is what he does best, to annoy and antagonise. The resident shock-jock of Scottish football punditry renowned for his sarcasm and big wooden spoon. A useful propaganda tool for some.

Sutton couldn’t wait to question whether or not Beale would have made the same call against Celtic, in order to open Pandora’s box with the ensuing mischief guaranteed.

Isn’t it peculiar that he didn’t question the officials last week, with the stamp on Malik Tillman going unpunished and directly leading to the controversial incident that saw the American international score to make it 2-1 before the high-profile equaliser was permitted by the Rangers boss?

There and then it was the right thing to do. In the context of the game and the victory, Beale’s decision was vindicated and the risk that he chose to take was repaid by the faith in his team to get the job done which they did, despite an underwhelming performance that annoyed him.

In recent days, the tit-for-tat nonsense has been played put in the usual way across the spectrum of the Scottish football media. Usually, it would not be useful or befitting for the Rangers manager to get involved with trolls like Sutton but sometimes things need to be said and by calling out the Jekyll and Hyde pundit - whose persona changes on matters south of the border and when appearing all empathetic to the plight of grassroots referees - Beale spoke the truth as well as firing a shot across the bow of his fellow Englishman. “Listen, there are pundits that are comedy acts, there are ex-players who are comedy acts,” he said.

READ MORE: Michael Beale's Rangers TV comments which indicate required squad cull

“I don’t even want to answer that question (the hypothetical on Celtic as posed by Sutton) because they are comedy acts and they are there to create intrigue. 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.”

Boom. Tabloid-level sensationalism for the sake of it.

Steven Gerrard’s former right-hand man went even further, taking the chance to directly sully Sutton by poking at the wound of his high-profile disappointment at Stamford Bridge, prior to his switch to Parkhead.

 “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.”

Michael Beale will quickly regain focus as he should, but with the Viaplay Cup final on the horizon it will fan the flames in certain quarters and further column inches will be filled.

What it also does is put to bed this misguided suggestion that the Rangers manager is a soft touch, due to his call last week in the Partick game. Yes, some still won’t like it and that’s fine, opinions are allowed but some of the initial reaction from fans was hyperbolic. Michael Beale, by his own admission, will be judged on his record at Ibrox, on a level footing. He has a fair crack at the whip in terms of the two domestic cups this season ahead of a pivotal title tilt next season, with a crack at Europe that will come with it.

He has the experience of the Gerrard years at Ibrox, during which he had his own touchline skirmishes at Easter Road and Parkhead for which he was sanctioned so Michael Beale is nobody’s fool, especially not Chris Sutton’s who as much as he was a very effective striker in Norwich, Blackburn and Celtic colours, he is in absolutely no position to question the Rangers manager’s coaching credentials given the abject paucity of his own.