Michael Beale overused Rangers excuse as Chris Sutton reminds former boss only one currency matters in Glasgow

Last season, Michael Beale had the excuse that it wasn't his team.

But Chris Sutton insists it was deployed too often and that it wasn't something he could fall back on when things went wrong this term. Beale oversaw an expensive Rangers rebuild this summer, bringing in the likes of Danilo, Sam Lammers and Cyriel Dessers for big money, along with Jose Cifuentes, Kieran Dowell and Jack Butland. Only goalkeeper Butland has performed to the level expected, resulting in the man who signed them being sacked on Sunday night.

It is certainly Beale's team that have fallen seven points behind Celtic already in the Premiership title race. And without being able to claim he was working with someone else's tools, Sutton reckons it was a matter of time before Beale was found out and that him getting his jotters from the Ibrox board was inevitable after the fans turned.

"He had the excuse last season of it not being his team," he told BBC Football Daily. "I think he used that excuse far too many times.

"He lost all the big important games - three huge games against Celtic. He won the dead rubber derby, the one that didn't matter at the end of the season.

"HIs issue was that he went up to Glasgow, underestimated the environment, shouted his mouth off, called Ange Postecoglou 'lucky Ange' and had plenty to say. But the only currency that matters is winning and he didn't do that.

"Eventually, the Rangers fans saw through him. Other people saw through him earlier. So he was always going to go after the weekend after it turned nasty. There were lots of angry bears."