Chris Sutton's comments about Michael Beale will be irritating to the Rangers boss but that's just 'too bad', according to Celtic legend Martin O'Neill.

The former Hoops striker and the Ibrox manager have been in a war of words over the past week since Beale instructed his team to allow Partick Thistle to score an uncontested goal after Malik Tillman took advantage of an intended return of play in a Scottish Cup tie.

First, Sutton asked on his radio show if Beale would have shown the same grace had the opposition been Celtic and not second-tier Partick.

That prompted a response from the Rangers boss a few days later when he took a shot at Sutton's ill-fated Chelsea spell and branded the ex-Premier League top scorer "a comedy act".

Sutton's riposte came in written form when he used his Daily Record column to suggest Beale was thin-skinned and questioned whether he would have the chops for the intense Ibrox hotseat long-term.

Finally, Beale used his post-match press conference to somewhat draw a line under the matter, saying: "Listen, I love him as much as he loves me. Tell him that."

Sutton was not finished, however, and on Monday lunchtime tweeted that he was "looking forward to my new reporting role and pre- and post-match interviews with both managers" ahead of his punditry work at this Sunday's Viaplay Cup final between Celtic and Rangers.

Now Celtic legend O'Neill has weighed in after being asked about the matter on talkSPORT.

On air with Jim White and Simon Jordan, the Celtic legend said: "I think he [Beale] said something about Chris being a failure at Chelsea - which he was - but he was fantastic for me at Celtic.

"Absolutely fantastic, changed his whole game and in fact sometimes I don't give him the credit he deserves because 1) he was a major signing for us and 2) his partnership with Henrik Larsson was amazing, really terrific. And I don't just mean on the Scottish scene, I mean on the European scene too.

"So now Chris is getting up a few people's noses. I suppose for Beale he's probably finding this irritating - but too bad. That's the way it is and Chris is not going to change for anyone."