Kris Boyd called on Rangers to sack manager Philippe Clement and hire an interim until the end of the season.
Rangers slumped to a new low in a disappointing season as they were beaten 2-0 at home by sixth-placed St Mirren on Saturday and Boyd believes Clement now appears resigned to his fate.
Investors from the US are in talks over a multi-million pound takeover of Rangers, but the Sky Sports pundit says the Glasgow club should not wait for the deal to go through before getting rid of the manager.
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Highlights from the Scottish Premiership match between Rangers and St Mirren
“Find an interim, put him in charge between now and the end of the season. He has to go right now,” said Boyd on Sky Sports.
He added: “We’re used to him coming out with excuses, he just looked defeated on Saturday, you just feel as if it’s time up.
“It needs to be done now – I’ve been saying this for months. This has been on the decline for months.
“You only need to look at the players, who need to shoulder some of the responsibility, but there is no style of play.
“There is no structure to anything they do and that’s from the top down.”
Clement’s side failed to capitalise on Celtic’s defeat at Hibernian
St Mirren have now beaten Rangers twice this season
Celtic remain 13 points clear over Rangers at the top of the Scottish Premiership despite defeat at Hibernian on Saturday as they close in on a fourth consecutive league title.
Rangers’ only remaining hope of silverware is the Europa League after Championship side Queen’s Park knocked them out of the Scottish Cup and Celtic beat them in the League Cup final in December.
But Sutton agrees that Clement appears to have lost hope that he can salvage anything from the season after this latest blow.
“It felt like he wants to be put out of his misery,” added Sutton, referring to the way Clement came across after the game.
“The job is too big for him now. In recent weeks, he’s always been talking about progress. He said [on Saturday] the team were nervous. This far into his Rangers evolution, the team shouldn’t be nervous.
“[The defeat to St Mirren] was the absolute end for him.”
Clement said in midweek he is not a fan of Jose Mourinho’s style of play after learning Rangers would be facing his Fenerbahce side in the Europa League last 16.
The Rangers boss said he had “incredible respect” for Mourinho’s record of winning silverware, but his preference is for more attacking football.
Sutton pointed out that it is not a good look for the Rangers boss given his side’s recent results.
“Critical of Jose Mourinho and sort of negative tactics and haven’t scored a home goal against Queen’s Park and St Mirren. You couldn’t make that up.”
