Chris Sutton says Mark Warburton was made to look like a "small child" at his pre-Inverness press conference, after the club's PR man, Jim Traynor, pulled him out after questions on Joey Barton.
Barton is currently serving a club suspension following a training ground row with Andy Halliday, which was recently extended by a further week, and Sutton is of the opinion that Warburton has not handled the situation well.
At the press conference, a reporter tried to ask several questions relating to Barton, but Warburton refused to discuss the matter. As the questions came again, Traynor stepped in and pulled Warburton out of the press conference, which later resumed.
Sutton believes that Warburton was made to look like a small child and the situation was an embarrassment. He also claims managers he worked under would not have let the Barton situation develop as it has.
"With the greatest of respect to Mark Warburton, I just feel he could have dealt with this better", Sutton said on BT Sport ahead of Rangers' 1-0 win at Inverness on Friday night.
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"Managers who I played with would have nipped this in the bud at source.
"Just letting this fester for another week has left everything open to interpretation.
"I don't think Joey Barton hit somebody, so if it's words, why don't you get Joey Barton in your office, tell him to go and train with the kids, train for a week and take all this speculation away", the former Chelsea striker explained.
"It's just festered and the press conference in the week was embarrassing.
"The manager was made to look like a small child in that – and that isn't on", he added.
It remains to be seen whether Barton will ever play for Rangers again.
