Michael Beale's furious tirade towards Chris Sutton is the talk of Scottish football this morning.
The Rangers manager took aim at the Celtic hero after he asked a hypothetical question during an appearance on BBC Radio 5 Live.
Beale's decision to allow Partick Thistle to score uncontested was the topic and Sutton questioned whether the Ibrox boss would have done the same if Celtic were the opponents.
He asked: “Here’s a question, just a yes or no answer. Do you think Michael Beale would have done that had they been playing Celtic?”
The question clearly did not go down well Beale who took aim during a press conference yesterday.
He said: “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? 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 (question if same decision would have been reached against Celtic), 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.”
Asked about the supporter's reaction to the incident and whether it will have an impact on his own approval rating, Beale went on to add: “I think the history will determine that. I don’t think anything I do right in this second will determine that. I think history will determine that.
“Emotions run high, they like one player and they don’t like another, one scores one week and isn’t liked the next. It is the role of the fan.
“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.”
Sutton is certain to respond to the comments, but it remains to be seen when he will go public.
The former Parkhead striker will appear on BT Sport's Scottish Football Extra at 6:30pm tonight, but he could also take to Twitter to voice his comeback.
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