Micah Richards reckons wrong Rangers battles were picked by Michael Beale as sacking brings blunt Alan Shearer verdict

It was form that was not acceptable in the eyes of Alan Shearer - and Michael Beale's Rangers downfall came as a shock to Micah Richards.

Fallout is continuing to land after Ibrox chiefs sacked the former QPR boss on Sunday after three defeats from seven at the start of their Premiership campaign. He's lasted less than a year in the Light Blues hotseat after a stint at the QPR helm in England, having previously coached at Rangers under Steven Gerrard.

Rest is Football host Gary Lineker put a question to the punditry duo from a fan on the news. It read "In the light of Rangers sacking Michael Beale, what do you feel about managers being sacked so early in the season?" Alan Shearer was blunt and insisted that such form can't be accepted in the Glasgow cauldron, with no sack shock shared.

He said: "You know Gary that there are two clubs who have to fight for the title up there. They are seven points behind and already lost three games and that is not acceptable up in Scotland with Celtic or Rangers. It didn't come as a huge surprise to me."

Lineker pondered on the expectancy levels in Glasgow before Richards came in. And he pointed to some of Beale's comments - like the back and forth he had with Record Sport columnist Chris Sutton last season - as an example of battles he shouldn't have gone near

The former Man City defender explained: "It's a strange one for me. Michael Beale was talked about as a great coach and when he was at QPR, was he staying or was he going. He was at Aston Villa with Steven Gerrard and I just thought with the way his teams played on the front foot and the way he spoke in interviews, I thought he'd go up there and have a real good success. He got in a few squibbles with Chris Sutton... he got drawn