Footballers and managers are held to account whenever they question the integrity of referees so, ahead of one of the biggest Old Firm clashes in years, why aren’t pundits like Chris Sutton held to the same standards?
Gers boss Philippe Clement was far from happy after the last derby but managed to vent his frustrations without crossing the line, Brendan Rodgers, on the other hand, used words like “incompetence” in his rant about the officials after losing to Hearts.
Clement will be hoping that he has enough in his squad so that Rangers win at Ibrox without any referee interference, however, that is a word that can’t be said about Chris Sutton’s previous attempts to put pressure on the man in the middle.
Old Firm referee has been targeted by Chris Sutton in the past
We all know that he loves the shock jock tag and that his persona when covering the English game varies massively from when he is on Rangers or Celtic duty.
The BBC trust him with 5Live’s flagship post-match show, and yet, north of the border, he seems to provide analysis from one angle only and loves nothing than to stir conspiracy.
Sutton also writes for The Daily Mail, a news outlet that is leading the way in a campaign to see referees treated better.
Laughable when you read some of Sutton’s previous comments about Old Firm referee John Beaton:
In 2020, two years after overseeing a one-sided derby that Rangers won 1-0 which saw Beaton receive death threats, he was in charge for his third Old Firm derby to which Sutton claimed:
“I’m looking forward to the big match.
“It’s all stacked in Rangers’ favour, the injuries to Celtic and Rangers, of course, have their favourite referee.”
Next up, in 2022, Sutton questioned Beaton’s knowledge of the laws of the game – Sutton and Michael Stewart would later be corrected by former officials for their opinions – a Celtic goal was disallowed due to a clear hand ball in the build up:
“He’s the best player in the world, Giakoumakis, if he can kick the ball under his arm and deflect it in Maeda’s path.
“You’d expect John Beaton to know the laws of the game. That’s the bottom line and he clearly didn’t.”
Most recent has been his comments, again after a Celtic defeat, when Brendan Rodgers went on his famous rant about John Beaton, Sutton hinting that everyone is against his former club:
“Yang red card I really don’t like but understand why it was given.
“Iwata handball is so harsh but would have been awarded because of the position of his arm but he was nudged but can’t say it’s a surprise in Scotland…”
Sutton’s worst accustations came during a Rangers v Hibernian game where a late penalty award for a clear foul on Ryan Kent by Ryan Porteous saw three points head to Ibrox.
In a heated exchange with Ally McCoist, Sutton referred to the referee as “Brother Beaton.”
Where do you even start with that?
Only to follow it up with a further accusation of bias:
“What I would say about John Beaton is you don’t often see referees when they award a penalty run to the away support and celebrate for awarding one.”
This isn’t all of Sutton’s remarks or comments about John Beaton and he was just as bad towards Bobby Madden before he retired too.
McCoist shows Sutton how it’s done in integrity demand
If only there were more pundits like Ally McCoist, who has never hid his allegiances, but at least manages to remain objective and professional, Sutton being put back in his box by the Rangers legend after Sutton’s disgraceful Hibs comments:
“We can argue about decisions coming here and there, I honestly believe we have got a really honest bunch of referees and officials, and of course they will make mistakes.
“We saw them make mistakes at Celtic Park and we’ll see them make mistakes all over the place. But let’s not question their integrity, we are better than that.”
That’s exactly it.
Pundits should to be held to the same standards as players and managers so that referees like John Beaton don’t get death threats for doing their job.
I won’t hold my breath though.
