Chris Sutton comments on Glasgow Rangers duo Mark Warburton and Joey Barton.
Rangers manager Mark Warburton celebrates winning the Scottish Championship
Former Celtic striker Chris Sutton has suggested to The Daily Record that Rangers manager Mark Warburton could be sacked soon.
Warburton has been in charge of Rangers since the summer of 2015 and has a contract with the Scottish giants until June 2019, according to Transfermarkt.co.uk.
The Englishman guided the Gers to promotion to the Scottish Premiership from the Scottish Championship at the end of last season.
Rangers are expected by many to compete with Old Firm rivals Celtic for the Scottish Premiership title this season, but the Ibrox outfit have not made a good start to the 2016-17 campaign.
Chris Sutton at Celtic
Former Celtic striker Sutton, who now works as a pundit for BBC Sport and BT Sport, has suggested that Warburton has just two more matches to save his managerial job at Rangers.
Rangers will take on Queen of the South at Ibrox in the quarter-finals of the Scottish League Cup on Tuesday evening.
The Gers will then face Aberdeen away from home at the Pittodrie Stadium in the Scottish Premiership on Sunday afternoon.
“The Queen of the South match is a huge game for Mark Warburton,” Sutton told The Daily Record. “It’s a game Rangers have to win.
“It’s hugely significant, all the more because Rangers then have Aberdeen on Sunday. A loss-loss scenario? The question would certainly be asked if he could survive that.”
Rangers’ Joey Barton looks dejected
Sutton has also claimed that the current situation involving Rangers midfielder Joey Barton would not have dragged on like it has under Walter Smith or Martin O’Neill.
As announced on the Scottish Premiership club’s official website on Monday, the former Newcastle United midfielder has been suspended for three weeks.
Barton told talkSPORT last week about a training ground bust-up between him and Rangers midfielder Andy Halliday.
Sutton believes that the situation would have been dealt with better under former Rangers manager Walter Smith and ex-Celtic boss Martin O’Neill, now in charge of the Republic of Ireland national football team.
“Rangers have just lost to their biggest rivals, humiliated, and there’s debates that happen and they are heated,” Sutton told The Daily Record. “But they’re dealt with on the spot. People get it all out of their system.
“The Barton situation has got completely out of hand. Warburton should’ve dealt with it on the Tuesday, there and then. It wouldn’t have happened under Walter Smith or my old manager Martin O’Neill.”
Martin O’Neill
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