Richard Wilson - Graeme Souness Interview

[chilledbear 16]

Aye right Graeme, no witchhunt.

 

 

 

When talk turned to the Old Firm match, and he asserted that it remains the biggest derby in world football, somebody remarked that Souness wouldn't plant a Rangers flag in the middle of the Celtic Park pitch, which he did as Galatasaray manager after a game at Fenerbahce. "Why not," he said, immediately. "If I would do it in Istanbul then I would do it at Parkhead. But the Old Firm was madder than Istanbul . . . although the players [in Turkey] tended to carry guns."

 

A look of mischievous intent flashed across his face as he spoke. Souness was seldom likely to reach for a compromise when his own 
will could be asserted. When he is reminded that it is 27 years since 
his brash and ambitious style of management reset the ambitions 
of Rangers, and in a sense Scottish football, the reverie is brief. "They were great times," he said, "exciting times for the guys who witnessed it, [and] exciting times for me." Souness remains a heroic figure for most Scots, since few of the nation's footballers have accumulated so many major honours and been the commanding presence in one of 
the game's great teams, but the Old Firm tends to be a divisive influence.

 

Rangers supporters continue to lionise him, while Celtic fans argue that the money he spent at Ibrox forced other teams into a cycle of spending to try to keep up that was ultimately ruinous. The views are extreme, as well as opposed. Souness did kick-start a revolution at Rangers that resulted in the club winning nine consecutive league titles, but his management style was too aggressive and abrasive to last. And Rangers did spend ambitiously, but at a time when the economics of the game in general were shifting. The Ibrox side were also able to focus their resources on buying players because the stadium was already almost fully compliant with the recommendations of the Taylor Report into the Hillsborough disaster, which forced many clubs to revamp their grounds.

 

Even so, Souness's time in Scotland felt revolutionary, and he remains associated with Rangers. 
He would have willingly returned to shape the club's future had Brian Kennedy been successful with his bid to buy it last summer. The emotional attachment runs deep and it is hardly surprising that such a combative and self-assured figure would be captivated by the rivalry that exists with Celtic. It can gather a cloying intensity in Glasgow, but that tended to invigorate Souness. The current absence of the fixture, at least in the league, is felt across the world, which has diminished the standing of the Scottish game.

 

"I can remember being a player 
at Liverpool and Kenny [Dalglish] and I roomed together," he said. "We would spend our time gloating over who had won the last game. So it is being missed throughout the world by Scotsmen living in Australia, America, Canada. It was – and will be again when it comes back – the biggest derby in the world. It's the biggest one I've been involved in by a mile. I was involved in Galatasaray-Fenerbahce, Liverpool-Everton and there is no comparison.

 

"Without Rangers, people see it as a weaker league, without a shadow of doubt. It has been damaging for the financial hit the other clubs have had to take. And for the level of interest in the game domestically and outside of Scotland. It has been a blow. And much as the most ardent Celtic supporter might have enjoyed Rangers' problems, were Celtic bang at it last year in every game they played? They didn't have to be. So if you are a Celtic supporter turning up to see your team not bang at it, you won't be happy. The challenge wasn't there for them. So the sooner Rangers are back the better it will be for everyone."

 

Souness is naturally inclined 
to view events from a Rangers perspective, but he acknowledged that the consequences of going into liquidation and new owners buying the club had to be suffered. Any discussion with Souness is liable to head off into matters concerning his old club – "We are spending most of this press conference talking about Rangers. That tells you everything. 
I worked here for five years – I know what Rangers and Celtic mean. So Rangers spending two or three years outside the top league is not going 
to diminish the interest in that club one little bit – but the formation 
of the new Scottish Professional Football League is also an opportunity for relationships 
to be mended."

 

Living in England and covering the Barclay's Premier League and Champions League for Sky Sports does not weaken his understanding of the politicking and rivalries 
that undermined so many of the attempts to reconstruct Scottish football. Souness is adamant that the game will be stronger, and 
more prominent, when Rangers eventually work their way back to the top flight, but progress can still be made in the meantime.

 

"[Rangers] had to take their medicine," he said. "There was no witchhunt. It was possibly the case that some people cut their noses 
off to spite their face. Okay, you want the very best for your football club. But there has to be a general awareness of the bigger picture and hopefully restructuring will help that. There are some intelligent 
and big characters at Rangers now. They will be very much aware of the challenge ahead of them and they will deal with it.

 

"[The SPFL] is a brave move. You have fewer people making decisions and in my experience of football that's good. I really hope this works out. They have taken the bull by the horns and tried to change things."

 

http://t.co/dK8IgvJVJ9

[crucible 0]

Shocking deviation from the facts.

[UCF2008 0]

One of the few benefits of the Green consortium beating Kennedy and TBK's. Souness never understood Scottish football and never understood Rangers. An arrogant tw@t of a man who turned his back on the club. Why he's still held in such high regard by so many of support beggars belief.

[aweebluesoandso 290]

Someone been blowing smoke up Sourness's arse, that or he's toeing the party line for some reason.

[Zappa 0]

Someone been blowing smoke up Sourness's arse, that or he's toeing the party line for some reason.

 

The guy just doesn't know what he's talking about. Rather than someone's been blowing smoke up his arse, it's more like he just permanently talks out of it.

[ian1964 10,468]

GRAEME SOUNESS last night claimed Charles Green was the wrong man to be given control of Rangers.

 

The former Ibrox manager, back in Scotland to help launch the SPFL, insists Edinburgh-born businessman Brian Kennedy should have been handed control instead by administrators Duff and Phelps.

 

And that would have brought Souness back to Ibrox to work with Ally McCoist.

 

The 60-year-old said: “If Brian had got the club at the time Green got it, I would have been involved.

 

“I would have been there to help Ally, a bit like Walter Smith is doing now. I would have enjoyed that.

 

“Would I have made any difference at From Back Page

 

Rangers? You have to believe in your own ability and it’s a club I know well.

 

“I was never going back as manager and I would never have gone back in that role.

 

“Ultimately, it was out of my hands but it’s not a case of holding regrets. The administrator thought Green was a better man than Brian for whatever reason.

 

“I would’ve gone back to the club for nothing and I wouldn’t have done that for any other club but Rangers.”

 

Green’s controversial spell as chief executive came to an end in April when he resigned after the club launched an investigation into his alleged links with former owner Craig Whyte.

 

He was cleared by that probe but still plans to sell his shares when a lock-in agreement ends in December.

 

Souness was asked for his opinion on Green but the normally talkative pundit only offered a terse refusal.

 

“I don’t want to talk about him,” he said.

 

But Souness expanded on the subject of what Kennedy might have done for Rangers.

 

He said: “Rangers would, most definitely, have been in a different situation now.

 

“The right people would have been there.

 

“Brian would’ve been the right person because he understands sporting clubs, even if his experience has been in rugby with Sale Sharks.

 

“He would have been doing it at Rangers for the right reasons and of course he’d have wanted to make a few bob at the end of the day.

 

“But that might have taken 25 to 30 years, or else it could’ve been money his kids got in 50 years’ time.

 

“He would’ve been there for the right reasons. There would have been no quick tricks with him.

 

“Brian knew it was a long-term project and a hard road to negotiate.”

 

But if Kennedy was the right man did that mean present members of the board were the wrong choices?

 

Souness replied: “I don’t know them. I only know one man there and that’s Walter.

 

“I know he’s right and I like to think he’s having a big influence on what happens there.

 

“He’s the best man you could possibly get.

 

“Walter says he’s not cut out for a boardroom. Is he having you all on? Of course he is.”

 

Souness concluded his flying visit to the country of his birth by revealing he won’t invest in any other Scottish club.

 

He said: “I wouldn’t rule out going back into a football club in some capacity one day but it won’t be in Scotland.

 

“It could only have been Rangers for me.”

[the gunslinger 3,366]

Souness is right imho.

[calscot 0]

He's right in that we didn't get fantasic people to take over the club and run it for the right reasons. He's wrong in that his consortium was no better.

 

We needed the right people but the right people don't exist. It's one of those oxymorons - like if you want be in parliament you should be disqualified from standing, if you're a businessman who wants to run Rangers then you're not right for Rangers.

 

The more I read about the business side of things, the more I realise that the biggest driving force is greed and that morals are something only to pretend to have.

 

You would think that there are enough fabulously rich people out there that they don't actually need to make any money at all from Rangers, they just have to ensure we don't make them a loss. But that thinking is for another universe.

[simplythebest 0]

Souness is right imho.

 

Just because he doesn't like Green no doubt.

[the gunslinger 3,366]

Thats part of it. I also think people fail to notice that the sfa are the reason our history is intact. Could they have handled it better? Of course they could but it was a difficult situation and had to be investigated and punishment s handed out.