Michael Beale has responded to Chris Sutton after the Celtic hero's latest comments in the ding-dong between the pair.

Ibrox boss Beale and pundit Sutton have traded remarks over the week - and Sutton continued the saga on BT Sport's Scottish Football Extra last night.

Sutton branded the Rangers manager "think-skinned" over their exchange as he poked fun at Beale's youth career as a footballer before turning to coaching.

But Beale insists he didn't pay any attention to Sutton's comments when quizzed after the victory over Livingston as he suggested he'd put an end to the feud.

In a parting shot, however, Beale urged journalists to relay the message to Sutton that he "loves him as much as he loves me" before leaving his press conference.

The Englishman commented: "No, I think we will leave that where it is.

"Listen, I love him as much as he loves me.

"Tell him that, thank you."

Sutton had said on Friday night: "What is Mick Beale getting his knickers in a twist about? He's so thin-skinned isn't he? What have I said which was wrong?

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"All I did was, on BBC radio, I asked Mark Chapman if he'd have done the same against Celtic. Mick got personal! He started talking about my playing career.

"I can't possibly comment on his playing career for obvious reasons. He started talking about comedy acts... the way he left QPR under a cloud was a comedy act. I'd go as far as to say that I'm more popular in West London than Mick Beale is!"

The verbal sparring had begun after Beale labelled Sutton a "comedy act" and claimed he is the "worst ever" player to represent Chelsea.

The Ibrox boss was at that point responding to Sutton's suggestion that he would not have allowed an uncontested goal against Celtic - after his sporting gesture in the Scottish Cup win over Partick Thistle.

Beale had commented: “Listen, there are pundits that are comedy acts. There are ex-players who are comedy acts.

“I don’t even want to answer that question because they are comedy acts and they are there to create intrigue. They don’t speak about the betterment of the game, they don’t help our game at all. All they do is bring it back down to the gutter.

“There are a lot of good things we can speak about in our game at the moment, at other clubs as much as in my club. I don’t know why people… Why is that where they go?

“At the end of the day, we don’t know, do we? If I had allowed that goal to stand and we had gone through in the cup like that, what would that have done for Malik? What would that have said about me and our club?

“And also, it seems like because Partick Thistle said it, that Ian was getting the sack anyway. Then you guys would be questioning me that I took a goal from someone that lost his job.

“I think that day worked out about as well as it could have done when that situation happened. You see when people do that, I think we need to wise up in this country.

“There are people out there creating intrigue for intrigue reasons and those people, in my opinion, we need to mute them and quickly.”