Former Celtic favourite aims jibe at EFL boss on Rangers’ radar | OneFootball

Former Celtic favourite Chris Sutton has mocked QPR boss Mick Beale’s claims that Rangers would definitely have beaten their Old Firm rivals to the SPFL title last season if he and Steven Gerrard had stayed at the club.

Beale was the Liverpool legend’s assistant at Ibrox and helped the Glasgow club win the SPFL in 2020/21 but both left to take charge at Aston Villa midway through last season.

The 42-year-old left Villa Park to become the new Championship club’s manager in the summer while Gerrard has since been sacked but, speaking on BT Sports’ Currie Club podcast, Beale suggested Rangers would have won the league again last term if the pair were still in the dugout.

He said: “Do I think we could have taken it forward? I definitely think we would have won the league. When we left, we were still four points in front. There is no way they (Celtic) would have come past us.”

Celtic eventually won the SPFL title by four points and Sutton, who spent six years at the Scottish club, took to Twitter yesterday to mock Beale’s suggestion.

The R’s boss has been linked with returning to Ibrox – with Football Insider indicating he’s their top target as pressure builds on Giovanni van Bronckhorst.

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The Verdict

The Old Firm is one of the biggest rivalries in world football and once someone becomes associated with either Celtic or Rangers, they tend to remain passionate about them even after they’ve left.

That appears to be the case for both Sutton and Beale here.

The R’s boss clearly believes that he and Gerrard would have brought more success at Ibrox – even though their rivals have been on the rise under Ange Postecoglou.

We will never know how that season would’ve panned out if Beale and Gerrard had stayed but we may see the 42-year-old in the opposite dugout from Postecoglou at some point soon.