April 19 - Souey Chopped | On This Football Day

AS a player he was uncompromising, committed and bloody brilliant. As a manager he tried to bring the same qualities to the job, but failed miserably. Today in 1999 Graeme Souness added to his impressive P45 collection, as Benfica gave him the boot.

During his 21-year career Souness was one of the greatest players of his era. Brought up in the gritty Edinburgh district of Saughton Mains, he started his career at Spurs, where he grew frustrated at not being chucked into the first team as an 18-year old, telling legendary manager Bill Nicholson that he was the best player at the club, as his lack of people-skills became evident at an early age.

Following spells at Montreal Olympique in the NASL and Middlesbrough, Souness moved to Liverpool in 1978 and began hoovering up every trophy in sight. Unlike messers Hansen, Thompson and several of his Anfield team-mates Souey didn’t settle for life on the Match of the Day sofa, but decided to give the management lark a try.

A spell as Rangers’ player-manager saw him shift the Scottish power balance well and truly back to Ibrox before he returned to Liverpool and proved his spell north of the border was beginners luck.

A combination of poor man-management, ineptitude in the transfer market and lack of tactical nous saw one of the greatest clubs in Europe fall into a major decline.

After a single FA Cup win and a bypass heart operation Souness was given the boot and embarked on a management career that has been, quite frankly, hilarious. Here’s our Nick Horby-esque Top 5 Souness Manager moments:

1. Souness the diplomat - following a highly-charged Istanbul derby in the 1996 Turkish Cup final, the then-Galatasaray manager Souness ran onto the centre circle at Fenerbahce’s home ground and planted a huge Galatasaray flag. Mental.

2. Souness the talent scout - Souness’ one-year spell in charge of Southampton is best remembered for Ali Dia’s brief Premiership career, where the Scotsman was duped into thinking he had a Liberian international, recommended by George Weah on his hands.

3. Graeme does Italy - trumped by only David Platt’s brief spell in charge of Sampdoria , Souness managed only four months in charge of Torino Calcio before he got found out by the Italians.

4. Competitive Graeme - during his spell in charge of Blackburn it was alleged that Dwight Yorke’s tabloid ways irked the Scotsman so much that he once sent a two-footed reducer into his star-striker in training that sidelined him for several games.

5. Newcastle - why Freddie Shepperd thought that putting Souness in charge of the likes of Craig Bellamy, Kieron Dyer, Laurent Robert and Lee Bowyer is beyond us. Compounded that, Shepperd also let Souness loose with the checkbook, letting him spend a combined £18 million on Jean-Alain Boumsong and Albert Luque.

For the record, Souness’ spell at Benfica wasn’t much kop either. After going through three managers in the first half of 1997, ambitious new chairman Vale e Azevedo brought in Souey, promising much and backing him financially. Souness brought in a team of British journeymen - Steve Harkness, Gary Charles, Michael Thomas, Mark Pembridge, Dean Saunders and Brian Deane - and unsurprisingly they didn’t bring the glory years back to the Estadio da Luz. A runners-up position in the Portuguese Liga in 1997/98 was as good as it got for the fiery Scot, before Azevedo ditched him for German Jupp Heynches.

Enjoy Souness’ moment of Turkish madness below and head over here tomorrow for more footballing history lessons.