If you listen carefully, you can probably hear Chris Sutton laughing from here. He’ll probably be laughing all day – all week even.
Who would have thought the former Celtic striker would show up fledgling managerial rookie Micky Beale for the out of his depth thin skinned cub he really is? Actually, now I think about it, it was always on the cards, I may even have mentioned it before....
READ THIS…Motor-mouth Mick Beale’s naivety and that lucky man at Celtic
It seems Chris Sutton hit a nerve with his on-air questioning of whether Beale’s show of sportsmanship – in theRangers tight Scottish Cup win over Partick Thistle – would have been replicated had it been a Glasgow Derby encounter. Well, I think Sutton got his answer, even if I doubt he ever expected one.
Here’s what Beale had to say after being quizzed on Sutton’s asking of a valid – yet rhetorical – question, as reported in Football Scotland. Would Beale’s sportsmanlike behaviour have occurred in the heat of a derby encounter?
“Listen, there are pundits that are comedy acts. There are ex-players who are comedy acts. I don’t even want to answer that question because they are comedy acts and they are there to create intrigue. They don’t speak about the betterment of the game, they don’t help our game at all.
“All they do is bring it back down to the gutter. There are a lot of good things we can speak about in our game at the moment, at other clubs as much as in my club. I don’t know why people… Why is that where they go? At the end of the day, we don’t know, do we?
— Steve Hoops (@Shoops88) February 17, 2023
“If I had allowed that goal to stand and we had gone through in the cup like that, what would that have done for Malik? What would that have said about me and our club? And also, it seems like because Partick Thistle said it, that Ian McCall was getting the sack anyway. Then you guys would be questioning me that I took a goal from someone that lost his job.
“I think that day worked out about as well as it could have done when that situation happened. You see when people do that, I think we need to wise up in this country. There are people out there creating intrigue for intrigue reasons and those people, in my opinion, we need to mute them and quickly,” Beale stated.
“Growing up, I was a fan of Chelsea. So there is one pundit around here who is the worst ever player to play for Chelsea. That is why I won’t mention his name because I try to forget him.”
If it wasn’t Sutton, it would have been someone else, because there is more to managing a top flight football club than a tactics board and a bit of pre and post-match flannel. You have to have a rhinoceros skin and you need to be able to cut out the noise and focus on the job at hand.
Less is more in the world of football management, particularly when dealing with the media. And when it comes to a bit of flannel the cockney barra boy is always likely to give you more than less.
After all, a bit of chat is all Beale can lean on. This is a man with a playing career that hit the giddy heights of Charlton Athletic and Twente in Holland, and a management career that has amounted to the grand total of 35 games. And let’s put that figure into some context, Chris Sutton still exceeds Michael Beale in the management experience stakes with 50 games and he’s not managed a football club since leaving Lincoln City in 2010!
This little naïve outburst should be all the warning theRangers support and the board who represent them need. Michael Beale may well be able to set out a football team but he simply doesn’t have the temperament or nous for all the rest of what goes with being the main man – and certainly not when he’s faced with the experience of Ange Postecoglou.
If Beale reacts like this when the pressure is off – and inheriting a nine-point deficit has ensured it is for the time being – then how will he react when the real criticisms arrive and the Bears are revolting?
Chris Sutton scoring against Juventus 2001 pic.twitter.com/7swqKyMZc2
— JustAnOrdinaryBhoy (@ordinarybhoy) February 17, 2023
What was it Frank Sinatra used to sing? – ‘I’ve got you under my skin, I’ve got you deep in the heart of me, So deep in my heart that you’re really a part of me, I’ve got you under my skin’. I bet Chris Sutton has got that particular tune ringing in his ears today.
Ange Postecoglou must believe he’s a lucky man after all, because he won’t need to defeat Michael Beale. Michael Beale will beat himself.
Niall J
We are so lucky to have every CORRUPT SFA REFEREE on our side. No wait that’s you DOPEY..HH