CHRIS Sutton believes he is regretting his comments ahead of the Viaplay Cup final, though Michael Beale may not have publicly admitted it.
The Rangers boss had said that counterpart Ange Postecoglou was a “lucky man“, prompting plenty of criticism from fans and pundits, with the Celtic boss even joining in.
Though Ally McCoist put it down to “inexperience“, Sutton noted that Postecoglou had been a successful coach for 26 years and had taken on a real mess at Celtic. It is clear that Beale should have shown more respect to the situation, and Sutton believes he‘s now wishing he hadn‘t said it.
At the Overlap event in London, which CeltsAreHere’s Quinny attended, Sutton and McCoist said:
Sutton started:
“Michael Beale came in and had the quip about ‘Lucky Ange’. I suspect that right now, at this moment in time, he regrets saying that. I understand he has to come in and make his mark, and there’s that great rivalry, but I think he could have played things a bit differently. And from things that he’s said in recent weeks, I think he’s watering things down a little bit.
“I think if you asked him privately, I suspect he’d regret coming in and trying to big himself up.”
Ally McCoist though put it down to “inexperience” more than anything malicious. He replied:
“It was perhaps a little bit of inexperience. When you look back at my time in Old Firm games, whether it was Billy McNeill, Tommy Burns, there’s was always a healthy respect in what was said. Always.
But Sutton wasn’t buying it as he said:
“He should have known better, shouldn’t he? You talk about healthy respect. Ange Postecoglou had been coaching for 25-26 years, virtually always been a success. But what he had to take over at Celtic at the start, you can’t say that was lucky. It was a real mess the situation which he took over.”
Beale and his players prefer to do their talking off the pitch, and as we build up to another Glasgow Derby, the same pattern will follow. Celtic don’t get caught up the word war, knowing that they do their talking on the park, with The Rangers still to get the better of Postecoglou’s side since Beale took charge.
