Michael Stewart responds to Chris Sutton claim on ‘huge risk’ for Rangers
Michael Stewart has responded to claims from Chris Sutton that Rangers manager Steven Gerrard has taken a “huge risk” with recent comments about his side.
The Gers boss spoke out against his players after the disastrous 2-1 defeat to Kilmarnock in midweek, prompting Sutton to write a column in the Daily Record over the weekend that suggested the Ibrox dressing room should be “sickened” by Gerrard’s rhetoric.
The former Celtic man brought up the matter again on Sunday afternoon, shortly before the Bears recorded a 1-0 win over Livingston.
Speaking on BT Sport, he said: “I think he threw the player under the bus a bit, questioning their mentality.
“It’s a huge risk. Will it pay off or not? We’ll see in the remaining games.”
Fellow pundit Stewart then responded: “It’s not something that’s unique, it’s happened before. Managers, it’s ultimately their decision on how they want to handle it.
“I think Steven Gerrard’s got enough respect within in that changing room that the players will buy into what he’s saying.”
Sutton retorted: “Would you like that Michael?”
Stewart then replied: “I think it depends on the messenger, I honestly do. If you’ve got the respect for the individual, it gives you a bit of fire in your belly to say ‘you know what? I need to step up here’.
“Would be the thing that I would do? Perhaps not. But I think he’s got enough respect to carry it off.”
Who is in the right here?
Stewart has actually hit the nail on the head here, to be fair to him.
Gerrard has the prerogative to manage this team however he sees fit.
Are we all going to agree with him 100% of the time? Of course not, but there has to be an element of trust in the manager and his methods – especially given how far he has brought Rangers so far.
In addition to that, emotions were running high in midweek.
Every single person associated with Rangers – players, staff, fans, pundits – will have been gutted by the result against Killie, but it just so happens that Gerrard is the one with a platform to express his malcontent.
Would any of us have said anything different in his position? Given how devastating the result could be for the title race, perhaps not.
In other Rangers news, Ibrox star Katic claims Livingston ace is ‘almost’ as good as Morelos.