Chris Sutton and Kris Boyd caught in heated Rangers debate live on Sky Sports amid Michael Beale sacking
Chris Sutton and Kris Boyd were caught in a heated debate live on air on Sunday (8 August) amid the sacking of Michael Beale at Rangers.
Speaking on Sky Sports ahead of the Gers’ 3-0 win over St Mirren (11:12am), Sutton said it’s “very early” to sack a manager after a few games, with Boyd arguing that the club had gone backwards at the start of this season despite the board backing the Englishman.
The former Celtic forward then accused his fellow pundit of saying the Light Blues’ hierarchy is blameless, but Boyd furiously argued that he “never said that” and insisted the wrong man had been appointed.
“I always think when managers are sacked after three, four, seven games that it’s very early,” said Sutton.
“Chris, if you go back over the season to now, then it is a few games,” replied Boyd. “There was part of this from last season, where you would say Rangers played better last year and released players in the summer. So now you’ve spent what £15million and went back the way – it can’t continue.”
Sutton then said: “So, in your opinion, the Rangers hierarchy are blameless in all this.”
“I never said that,” argued Boyd. “They hired Michael Beale.”
“You certainly did,” replied Sutton. “You blame it all on Beale, but the people who hired him you’re saying ‘no, that was okay’.”
Boyd then added: “They’ve hired the wrong person for the job, but they also backed him with a lot of money.”
Gloves off
The gloves were well and truly off between Sutton and Boyd during the coverage on Sky Sports as they argued over a number of topics.
It’s no surprise to hear the former be so confrontational because he usually is whenever he is brought into a discussion on Rangers due to his affiliation with their arch-rivals Celtic.
There is certainly fault that lies with both parties that are being debated about, though, as Beale oversaw a squad revamp that wasn’t good enough and the club’s hierarchy allowed him to do it.
Yes, the Englishman was backed as he brought in several targets that he wanted, but it’s rare for decisions to be pretty much solely down to a manager anymore, meaning a more forward-thinking approach is required.
The Gers have a lot of lessons to learn from Beale’s failed time in charge at Ibrox and they must ensure that changes are made once the next boss takes over, whoever that may be.
In other Rangers news, a Sky Sports pundit was baffled at a high-profile manager being linked with the Ibrox job.