Chris Sutton has torn into Rangers manager Philippe Clement, branding him a 'Belgian Beale'.

The former Monaco boss has been under intense pressure since the 2-1 defeat to Aberdeen on Wednesday left his team nine points adrift in the title race.

And the former Celtic striker and now controversial Sky Sports pundit defended Rangers fans for being critical of the man in charge, insisting the 52,000 who fill Ibrox every second week deserve better than they are getting.

He told the Daily Record: "Look, no one likes seeing anyone lose their job. But you’ve got to wonder how bad it has to get before someone – anyone – at Ibrox makes a big decision. We keep hearing Clement and his players saying they can still compete for the title. Right now it’s hard to see them even competing for second. The club is not in great shape off the park right now with no permanent chairman, no chief executive and no director of football.

"There’s no money either. But those are no excuse to what’s being served up by Clement and his side. I’ve actually got some sympathy for the Rangers board. They keep making losses, but it’s their own money they are blowing and they are seemingly willing to keep shovelling it in.

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"There’s been so much wasted though – and not a single bit of progress. They deserve better – as do Rangers fans. You look at where they were a year ago. There was an initial bounce under Clement but they ran out of steam and now?

"They have the Belgian Beale in charge. I can’t believe quite how off the rails the manager has gone. After his first few months there were positive signs. He secured a trophy and spoke a lot of sense. After the nonsense of Michael Beale, they looked to have a sensible, serious operator in charge.

"They now have a Belgian waffler who is spouting the kind of gibberish that Pedro Caixinha came out with. The warning signs were there last year with his ‘moral victory’ against Celtic and it’s got worse and worse."