‘Embarrassing’ – Chris Sutton’s Spot On Ibrox Rant

Former Celtic striker Chris Sutton has branded the comments made by Rangers forward Fashion Sakala embarrassing ahead of the Viaplay Cup final.

Sutton has already had a bit of a ding dong as he managed to get under Michael Beale’s skin in recent weeks which is his job as a pundit.

Beale retorted back which someone in his position just shouldn’t be doing as he described Sutton as ‘Chelsea’s worst ever player’.

When the manager is making comments like such in press along with describing Ange Postecoglou as ‘lucky’ it was no great surprise to see some players join in ahead of Sunday’s Hampden showdown.

Sakala first described Celtic as the ‘other mob’ then went on to tell everyone why his side who sit nine points behind the league leaders are ‘better than Celtic’.

The 25-year-old is a dangerous player that the Hoops will need to pay attention to on Sunday. Although Sakala’s comments may have got some reaction out Rangers fans, there will be some who groaned and would much rather he did his talking on the park which shall be Postecoglou’s sides full intentions.

Sutton during his time at Celtic was involved in something a bit similar during a UEFA Cup clash against his former side Blackburn Rovers who he had won the Premier League at.

Although he doesn’t read much into these comments, Sutton believes that Celtic won’t need any further motivation as they look retain the first piece of silverware.

“It was the same with Mick Beale’s refusal to name their rivals a while back. It’s all just a bit small fry. Listen, I don’t quite buy the old cliché about pinning up stuff to the dressing room wall as motivation,” said Sutton speaking in the [Daily Record].

“I’m not sure Celtic will need any extra motivation to win a cup final, but if they did then this will only fuel the fire. It will all be fine if Rangers lift the trophy and he gets on the scoresheet. He can say, ‘I told you so’ or whatever he wants. But he could also end up looking really silly if it doesn’t go Rangers’ way.

“I’m all for players speaking their minds and they should be encouraged to do so. That doesn’t mean you should be spouting nonsense though. There’s a stark contrast across the city. Ange Postecoglou has spent more than 25 years in the dugout and he has shown his experience in Glasgow by not getting dragged into any silliness.

“When I look back to my time playing in Glasgow, there was a bit more mutual respect between the clubs. You see the likes of Barry Ferguson this week saying the same thing and basically telling Sakala to do his talking on the pitch. We felt the same. I can only imagine how Martin O’Neill would have reacted if one of us had come out with this guff.

“Look at how he handled the aftermath of the 6-2 Demolition Derby. We’d just destroyed our fierce rivals and he was out saying Rangers were still the benchmark. It became the buzz word of the entire campaign – even when we were out of sight. These kinds of comments can come back to bite you. There weren’t too many times we needed opposition players or managers to wind us up but it did happen.

“The Blackburn Rovers game was one. We didn’t play that well in the first leg in Glasgow but we managed to scramble a first leg win. Remember the famous Graeme Souness line about ‘Men against Boys’?

“We steamrollered them in the return leg at Ewood Park to make them eat their words. That was a special game for me as I thoroughly enjoyed my time at Blackburn but it was leaving Souness and Co with egg on their faces that made it one of the sweetest wins of my career.”