Former Celtic star Kris Commons reckons Michael Beale showed a naivety by wading into a public spat with Chris Sutton.
The Rangers boss branded the pundit "Chelsea's worst ever player" as he rounded on perceived comedy acts in the wake of his decision to allow Partick Thistle to equalise in a their madcap Scottish Cup clash. His pointed words led to a response from Record Sport columnist Sutton – who reckons the 42-year-old displayed a thin skin by hitting out. And that's a sentiment echoed by Commons who has shared his surprise over Beale's decision to wade in and he reckons he's let the himself and his club down in the process.
Speaking in his Daily Mail column, he said: "Since replacing Giovanni van Bronckhorst in late November, Beale has brought a sense of freedom back to this Rangers team and got them playing some decent football once again. They won comfortably away at Livingston on Saturday afternoon, a notoriously awkward venue due to the plastic surface. But, as for off-field matters, it's been more of a bumpy ride and some of his comments in the media have shown a real naivety. Firstly, he claimed back in January that Ange Postecoglou was a 'lucky man' due to the spending power available to the Celtic boss.
"I found that quite a strange thing for a Rangers manager to say. 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, the former Celtic striker and outspoken pundit. Listen, there's nothing wrong with publicly defending yourself and your club if you feel like a pundit has really overstepped the mark and gone too far.
"If any player or manager feels like someone has taken a pop at them, then it's only fair that they should be entitled to a right of reply. Yet, in this instance, I don't actually feel Sutton's comments were all that bad when he was discussing the controversial goal Rangers allowed Partick Thistle to score in last weekend's Scottish Cup tie.
"He wasn't being overly provocative. Instead, he was only pondering a hypothetical scenario if Rangers would have done the same thing against Celtic. Knowing Sutton, it was tongue-in-cheek, knockabout stuff. He loves a wind-up. I certainly didn't expect it to prompt Beale to give him both barrels and engage in a war of words. He duly branded Sutton as a 'comedy act' and 'Chelsea's worst ever player'. I think he let himself and his club down with those comments.
"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 expects a corker in the Viaplay Cup Final but believes the Rangers players must show more composure than their manager has during his public war of words with a leading pundit. And he is convinced Ange Postecoglou's side will test Beale's unbeaten record to the max at the national stadium.
He added: "For Rangers to get a direct crack at Celtic at Hampden this coming weekend, it could well be their best chance of stopping their rivals from having another clean sweep of all three domestic trophies. But they will need to show more composure than their manager has shown this week. 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? He will no doubt look to devise a plan to stop that from happening. But, on current form, I firmly expect there to be green-and-white ribbons on the trophy on Sunday afternoon."
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