Chris Sutton forces Kris Boyd into Rangers retreat over Clement as Sky Sports intervention stops row 'descending'
Kris Boyd swerved questions over his support of Rangers boss Philippe Clement from Chris Sutton in the wake of demolishing Celtic.
The Belgian boss secured his first Old Firm triumph as he saw off Brendan Rodgers' league leaders with goals from Ianis Hagi, Robin Propper and Danilo to cut Celtic's lead at the summit of Scottish Premiership to 11 points. It's a much-needed boos for Clement with pressure skyrocketing off the back of disappointing showings against St Mirren and Motherwell.
Before a ball was kicked at Ibrox, cautious Boyd admitted that defeat to the Hoops - and falling 17 points behind at the midway point in the season - could see Clement shown the door. But there was a change of tune in the Sky Sports studio after the full-time whistle as the Rangers' hero gushed about he display.
He said: "I think sometimes we look at it and analyse it and say Celtic were really poor - today you have just got to give Rangers credit. I thought they were excellent today, but Rangers fans will be out there saying 'where has this performance came from?' - because we have not seen it for a period of time.
"We have seen it in Europe on a Thursday night - it pops up and you think maybe there is a chance for Rangers to kick on. You look at the next fixtures they go to Easter Road, they are at Dens (Park) on Thursday night and then Aberdeen come here (Ibrox). Philippe Clement will learn about his team, they can get themselves up for big games...."
Sutton cut in with the burning question: "Are you backing Big Phil now?" Undeterred Boyd powered through: "I think when Rangers don't have the ball they are more effective. When they don't have the ball they are not asked to break teams down - I mean Celtic were open today. But you need to find a way to consistently break teams down here, and you need to do that.
He then looped back to Clement. Pointing to the contract extension that the boss signed at the start of the campaign, he fired back at the Celtic fan favourite: "I have just heard he has signed a new deal."
Sutton then called back to his pre-match comments: "Are you backing him now, though? You said before the game that it was 'just a matter of time' - but now after that performance which side of the fence are you on?"
There was an awkward silence before Boyd fired back: "I'll answer it after you, because you said the same?" Sutton said: "I asked you first."
Sky Sports host Eilidh Barbour intervened to end the squabbling: "Have we descended to that?" The duo smirked before drawing a line in the squabble.
