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Souness calm in eye of the storm

The return journey: With Rangers he was the scourge of Celtic Park. Now he takes Blackburn behind enemy lines

Nick Townsend
Sunday 27 October 2002 00:00 BST
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The trademark "Yosser Hughes" 'tache may have been discarded but the belligerent attitude that it once represented remains. The medication that ensures his heart maintains its rhythm may have quelled some of his instinctive urge for confrontation, yet Graeme Souness recognises that the merest mention of his name is no less provocative to the green half of Glasgow now than it was in the late Eighties.

He is in no mood to conduct a peace mission. Indeed, Souness is relishing the prospect of renewing old hostilities.

Blackburn Rovers at Celtic Park in Thursday's first leg of their Uefa Cup tie may be some way removed from the intensity of an Old Firm encounter but, for the night, Blackburn will become a surrogate Rangers. "If I get a hostile reception, I'll take it as a great compliment," declares Souness in that Edinburgh intonation which would be almost soothing if it wasn't for the nature of his sentiments. "If I'd have been five years at Rangers and we hadn't done well, there'd have been no big deal about me going back. The fact that the mere mention of my name will stir up a certain passion in the Celtic supporters is, I think, paying me a compliment.

"In five years we won the Championship four times. I don't want to be presumptuous but, yes, if I get lots of stick, I'll be quite chuffed about that." He adds: "Of course, there'll be a Scottish-English thing to it, too, if the media have got anything to do with it. That's natural. It'll be strange, though, because half of Glasgow will want the English to win this time."

It is Thursday afternoon at Blackburn Rovers' academy within their Brockhall training complex. Sheep wander the road down to the village where it is located in a countryside idyll, but once inside there is a no-expense-spared appearance that you expect from the club bankrolled by the late Jack Walker. Outside, tots who can barely kick the ball 10 feet are being cheered on by their parents as they contest an under-seven game, every one of them a would-be Damien Duff or Matt Jansen. Inside, the air is thick with Scottish accents. They are the temperate voices of the Glasgow media who had travelled south for the day to resume old acquaintance, and all is harmony. But Souness acknowledges that in a week's time the air will be infused with the contempt reserved for a former Rangers manager, player and a Protestant.

He makes no attempt to lower the temperature. Indeed he raises it when the name of Maurice Johnston is broached. When he brought him back from France, Souness made him the first Catholic to play for Rangers. "I didn't do it to be a revolutionary," he insists. "The fact that he was Catholic wasn't the reason. I'd played with him, I knew him as a boy, and I knew he'd complement what we had at Ibrox, although I accept that the offshoot was that I upset half of Glasgow. Maurice was just one of the good players I signed and [his face breaks into a sly smile] that's why I'll be remembered most fondly next Thursday at Parkhead!"

Souness's stewardship of Rangers lasted six years, before he departed Ibrox to succeed Kenny Dalglish at Liverpool in 1991. His friend David Murray, then chairman of Rangers, insisted that he would regret leaving Ibrox. In the short term, Murray's words were to prove prophetic. Anfield (with the exception of an FA Cup Final victory in 1992) was a period of relative failure for Souness, punctuated by the trauma of a triple heart- bypass operation. It was followed by adventures at Galatasaray, where his team won the Greek championship; Southampton, where he managed to maintain Premier League status; Torino, where he was sacked after six games; and Benfica, where he was dismissed after complaining about lack of financial backing.

Then Blackburn, with whom he won promotion last year. Today there are demands upon him, principally to avoid relegation, but they are nothing like the pressure, he maintains, that compares with life in the centre of the maelstrom which is Glasgow football rivalry. "Being manager of Rangers or Celtic is extremely stressful," he says. "You're judged on four games a year. You can be playing fantastic football, but being second is no good. Alternatively, you can be playing crap and top of the league and you're a great guy. When you lose to Celtic, you go home and want to go straight to bed, at about half-past seven at night, then stay there until the following lunchtime."

There's still a part of the man – sent off in his first game as player-manager of Rangers for an assault on Hibs' George McCluskey, or, as Souness puts it euphemistically: "I ran my boot up his leg" – which almost certainly hankers to be involved again in the thick of Old Firm malevolence. Souey, they call him. Chop Souey would be more apposite.

But overall Souness has undergone a considerable metamorphosis. "Experience changes you," he says. "You're an absolute fool if you don't learn from your mistakes. People make a big deal about the medication I'm on and, physically, I suppose, I operate at a few levels down because of it, but mentally, well... I've just been fined 15 grand [by the FA this week after having been reported by referee Steve Bennett for an incident in a game against Liverpool]. I'm still very passionate." He adds: "Anyone who remembers me at Rangers will recall that I was extremely confrontational. I realise now that it was the wrong attitude to have, but as a young man you won't be told anything. You think you've got all the answers, you're the bee's knees. Then things happen to you along the way that make you realise that you're not. But I have changed. My relationship with players is very different now."

His team, Souness insists, will find that Celtic Park is a different proposition entirely to even Old Trafford or Highbury. "Going there will be a wonderful experience for my young players," he says. He pauses, and smiles. "My young players? I'm beginning to sound like the ex-manager of Leeds. I'll be talking about 'my babies' next. No, I've got young players who will be richer for the experience of going there." He adds: "As a manager, you're always looking for signs all the time in the dressing room about your players, and that will be the case at Parkhead. The majority of the team are without any real experience of the Premier League. This is only their second year. To go to Parkhead will be another part of their learning curve. If we get cuffed three-nil up there and lose three-nil here it's not the end of the world. It's the manner in which you get stuffed that's important. The Premiership is our priority."

Souness is an advocate of the proposal to transform the English Premiership into a British League, but does not believe that this two-off conflict will shed any real illumination on the right of Celtic and Rangers to join forces with their counterparts south of the border. "This tie will excite everyone in Britain. But will it tell us much about Celtic and the Premier League? I don't think so. It won't be an indicator, even if Celtic were to stuff us twice, whether they could do well down here. The Premiership is an extremely demanding league, with no easy games. In Scotland, it's not like that."

Souness's only concern is the doubtful participation of Duff, who is recovering from a hamstring injury. "Damien's desperate to play because he's a Celtic supporter," says Souness. "And I'd love him to play there because he's a gem, a special talent." It would also enhance Rovers' chance of victory against Martin O'Neill's men. And despite what he says, Souness would dearly love to turn over those particular adversaries once again.

The Glasgow years

What could have been
Graeme Souness trained at Parkhead as a schoolboy, but perhaps his years of exile in England and Italy can be traced to a meeting with a couple of Glasgow hooligans who pursued the youngster after training, brandishing swords.

An unhappy homecoming
Lured from Sampdoria to become player-manager at Rangers in April 1986, yet lasted 34 minutes on debut, against Hibernian, for an off-the-ball assault on George McCluskey which sparked a 20-man brawl and saw him banned for five games.

The fiery streak
Was sent off at Aberdeen on the final day of the 1986-87 term as Rangers clinched the league title. Was sent off in August 1987 for scything down Billy Stark: that prompted a Celtic fanzine to provide the free gift of a red card for their next Old Firm issue and Souness was taunted by card-waving Celtic fans.

Breaking the bank
Inflated the Ibrox wage bill to lure Terry Butcher and Chris Woods in July 1986, and the transfer trade went into reverse as a host of top English players gravitated towards Glasgow. Spent £14.5m on transfers in five years.

Pushing back the barriers
In July 1989 he bought Scotland striker Mo Johnston and broke Rangers' century-old ban on signing Catholics and trumped Celtic, who had already done a deal to bring him back from Nantes. Rangers fans burned season tickets in protest, while Johnston needed a minder to avoid the retribution from Parkhead fans.

Wielding the whip
Fell out with many of his own players, including Butcher, and captain Graham Roberts who was banished to a third team fixture 200 miles away. Jan Bartram went back to Denmark and told everyone that Souness was "mad".

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