Michael Beale has taken aim at Chris Sutton with his “comedy act” swipe at the Record Sport columnist.
But the Celtic faithful calling up the Hotline suggested the joke was actually on the Rangers manager as they rushed to defend the former Parkhead favourite. David Bryce, Troon, rang to say: “Michael Beale has a real cheek, insinuating that Chris Sutton is the worst player to play for Chelsea. Sutton was an absolutely brilliant player for Norwich, Blackburn and Celtic. Beale had no football career whatsoever. What a brass neck this man has!”
Eddie Easson, Fife, was next up, saying: “Motormouth Beale is at it again. This time it appears to have Chris Sutton in his sights. The worst player Chelsea ever had, the silent assassin said. Although he never had the guts to name him. Big Chris should throw back a challenge. It could be a massive charity event called: ‘Show me your medals!"
Beale lashed out after hearing Sutton had asked whether the Ibrox boss would have been as sporting had last week’s clash when he allowed Partick Thistle a walk-in equaliser been against his old Parkhead side. Gerrard Kelly reckoned it was a perfectly reasonable question as he said: “Michael Beale can say Sutton was bad for Chelsea but he was a star for Celtic!
"As for Sutton’s point of asking would he have done it for Celtic? The fact he could not answer that question but then went on about how we need to mute these commentators says it all! Did Sutton ruffle a few feathers there? He only did gave that goal back to Thistle to save his so-called good guy image! It won't be long before we see him jump ship like he did QPR! One more thing, who did Beale actually play for again?”
Henry Moffat, Stirling, added: “I am so glad to have a manager of Ange Postecoglou’s class rather than Micheal Beale. Celtic take three times the criticism from media and pundits as Rangers do but you would not see Ange get embroiled with the embarrassing garbage Kris Boyd comes out with or comment on a fellow manager’s luck.”
Arrin Geddes, Irvine, called to say: “Mick Beale wasn’t in charge when Celtic won the 2019 League Cup but if he watches a re-run he’ll see his beloved team not returning the ball to Celtic from a throw in. Chris Sutton might be nearer the mark than bealin' Mick claims. It’s not just Chris Lowe who remembers that game!”
But the Rangers supporters are delighted to see their man getting stuck into Scottish football’s wind-up merchant in chief. Alan Milligan said: “At last someone has called out Sutton. For an ex-Celtic player, it appears his whole life centres on talking about Rangers. That Dunfermline result many years ago lives in his head 24/7!”
Andrew Mathiesson added: “Well done Michael Beale for calling Sutton out, allegedly! Words we should never see in one sentence are Sutton and sportsmanship!”
But Robert Livingstone, Palm Beach, reckons the Ibrox boss should have held his tongue, saying: “Sadly Sutton was out to bait Beale with a lot of hypothetical what-if nonsense! Unfortunately Beale spat the dummy and went for it, when it's best to be the better man and ignore it! There's no doubt some ex-players who are now media pundits only pander to the haters who are not interested in the many good things about the Scottish game and there's plenty. Sutton, who I had respect for as he was a great player, hasn’t done himself much credit attacking Beale's honesty.”
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