Chris Sutton angry as he calls for player to be hauled off in Rangers win v Kilmarnock
Chris Sutton reacted angrily to something he saw as Rangers battled to a Scottish Premiership win over Kilmarnock on Wednesday.
The midweek match-up with Kilmarnock at Rugby Park (26 February) saw Rangers under Derek Ferguson for the first time, and they eventually ran out 4-2 winners.
A nightmare opening half-hour stunned Ferguson and his Gers side, before Cyriel Dessers twice, Vaclav Cerny and Nedim Bajrami got on the scoresheet to carve out the three points.
Sutton rages at player in Kilmarnock v Rangers
Sutton had plenty of strong opinions while co-commentating live on Sky Sports (26 February) during a thrilling six-goal encounter in Ayrshire.
With Rangers managing the dying stages of the game with a safe two-goal buffer and Killie having completely tired by this point, the hosts’ Innes Cameron reached a forward ball and elected to try a speculative shot with no teammate around him.
The effort sailed harmlessly off target from a very acute angle, which would have had to be something extremely special to find a way past Jack Butland and into the net.
Sutton raged at the 24-year-old for taking the shot on, claiming he would have substituted him had he been Killie boss Derek McInnes, despite Cameron himself only having come on in the 81st minute.
“That’s absolutely ridiculous,” the former Celtic forward scoffed.
“If you try to score from that angle… He’s come on as a sub, but I’d sub him off for that.
“Try to hold the ball up. What he’s done is ridiculous.”
Ferguson secures Rangers victory at first attempt
By his own admission, Ferguson says it has been a “crazy” few days at Rangers. He was not expecting this time last week to have been in post at Ibrox a matter of days later.
It is the epitome of how quickly football moves, with Philippe Clement having packed his bags following last weekend’s abject home defeat by St Mirren (22 February) – it was just one too many and supporters had already made their own minds up long ago.
What Ferguson has on his side is the respect of the fans – that can go a long way to having the confidence to try new things and experiment with the team as a manager when others may not get the time. You can be afforded that as a 15-trophy ex-captain with over 400 appearances in the shirt.
| Barry Ferguson – trophies at Rangers | Years won |
| Scottish Premiership | 1999, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2009 |
| Scottish Cup | 2000, 2002, 2003, 2008, 2009 |
| Scottish League Cup | 1999, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2008 |
With no realistic aim other than pride and development in the league, the competitive excitement comes against Fenerbahce in the Europa League with a place in the quarter-finals at stake. That will be a massive challenge for Ferguson and one he is relishing, up against Jose Mourinho.
For now, Ibrox will be rocking for the return of one of their most prominent sons, who takes charge of his first home game on Saturday (1 March) against Motherwell.