Chris Sutton defended his decision to call Rangers attacker Alfredo Morelos ‘Buffalo Brains’ and insisted he meant no offence with the remark.
The outspoken pundit revealed that he meant for the comment to be a tongue-in-cheek twist on the player’s nickname ‘El Buffalo’ and just wanted to point out that the forward had been stupid numerous times this season.
Sutton went on to make clear that he rated Morelos as he claimed the 22-year-old was the best striker in the league as it stood.
“I think people try to cause me a problem through hatred. His nickname is ‘El Bufalo’ and Rangers’ social media put that out often,” said the pundit in an interview with FootballScotland.
“I was just making the point regarding the last Rangers v Celtic game that he loses his head and he has done a few times this season, hence ‘Buffalo Brains’.
“It’s tongue-in-cheek, it’s a light-hearted comment. It’s not there to cause any offence. It’s just saying in a lot of moments this season he has been stupid.
“On the flipside of that, I’ve said Morelos is the best striker in the league.
“I have to say, if we’re going to stand on television and speak freely in the newspapers, if we can’t say what we think (and of course there are boundaries, and there are times we can’t make it light-hearted), then it’ll just turn into a farce where nobody will say anything.”
OPINION
While Sutton can be Marmite amongst football supporters, it has to be said that he is never afraid to speak his mind and that’s want you want from a pundit at the end of the day. A pundit should be able to deliver a honest verdict, as long as he doesn’t get too personal, and Sutton remarks on Morelos on this occasion while harsh clearly didn’t cross a line. It’s worth pointing out that the former Celtic star clearly rates the forward given his best in the league claim and just is not doubt frustrated that there’s an area of his game, his temperament, that lets him down and takes the attention away from his talent. Morelos has scored a staggering 20 goals, while assisting 10, in his 34 appearances across all competitions this season and it’s vital that he doesn’t lose his head often in the second half of the current campaign as Steven Gerrard won’t want to be without him because he ends up picking up an avoidable suspension.