You reap what you sow.
Or in Chris Sutton’s case, if you continuously slag off an organisation and individuals who are employed by the organisation, don’t be surprised if you are far from welcome when you turn up expecting to be waited on hand and foot.
The BT Sports and BBC pundit is still crying about being banned from Ibrox despite years of thinking it was ok to go beyond acceptable criticism and pander to the lowest denominator as a cheerleader for his former fans from across the city, there were few – if any – dissenting voices from the Rangers support when it was announced that his access had been revoked.
A surprising show of camaraderie has come from a former target of Sutton’s in the shape of Dave King, who, after the Rangers AGM, has raised concerns about how the club is dealing with both Club 1872 and the country’s media, as reported by The Glasgow Times:
“The idea that the Club can silence challenging supporters, reporters and regulatory authorities is not only wrong, it is completely unbecoming of Rangers.
“Rangers should be a leader in standing up for individual rights and opinions – even if they don’t agree with them.
“I have not been the beneficiary of kind comment from Chris Sutton but I would never even remotely consider the possibility of banishing him from our stadium and using untenable health and safety arguments as justification. We should be bigger than that.”
King has a point in that we should be bigger than that but Sutton has taken it too far on too many occasions, he has been disrespectful to the club’s owners, directors, managers and players at various times over the years, resorting to name calling when his intellect can’t manage to construct a logical argument.
After years of it being a one way street, Kris Boyd has taken up the mantle on his own to lead the fight back and they don’t like it, not one bit, but does he moan about the abuse he gets? No, he jokes about it – unlike Sutton who reverts to type and cries to his adoring hordes.
Rangers are being a leader, a leader in standards. Being critical is fine, having a negative opinion of Rangers is fine, but express it like an adult, not a spoilt child trying to impress their mates. If Sutton’s banishment encourages other pundits to up their game and offer genuine insight instead of spouting nonsense then I, for one, am all for it.