Mark Hateley's special offer to Walter Smith

Former Rangers striker Mark Hateley has offered to put his boots back on to help out Walter Smith.

Hateley enjoyed two spells as a player at Ibrox but with his old club unable to name seven substitutes for today’s win over Aberdeen the 49-year-old grandfather could be about to play again for the first time in over a decade.

Belittling Celtic’s 9-0 hammering of Aberdeen last week Hateley claimed in his Daily Record column that he could outscore Gary Hooper or Anthony Stokes.

In an article that criticised Neil Lennon throughout the Rangers Ambassador said: “I was amazed to hear him moaning about his team not getting enough credit for beating Aberdeen 9-0.

“What exactly was he looking for? A 16-page tribute section in the Daily Record? So what? You stuffed nine goals past a woeful Aberdeen side.

“Even these days, with my bad ankles, I’d fancy my chances of scoring five or six against that lot. Move on.”

What Hateley made of today’s blanks from Steven Naismith and John Fleck should make for interesting reading in next weeks offering from the former England striker.

Comparing Neil Lennon with Graeme Souness is the general tone of Hateley’s offering with the wild claim that Souness carried things out with a certain style!

Would that be the style that saw him red-carded on his debut as Rangers player-manager for an over the ball assault on George McCluskey or the fall out with legendary St Johnstone tea lady Aggie that apparently forced him out of Scottish football.

Or could it be the style that saw Souness walk out on Rangers with a handful of games left in a closely contested championship race with Aberdeen?

After quitting Rangers for Liverpool Souness left Anfield under a cloud after giving The Sun the exclusive story of his heart-bypass operation only a couple of years after the same paper had outraged the entire city with it’s coverage of the Hillsboro Disaster.

There may be a few lessons for Lenny to pick up from Souness but matching the former Rangers managers ‘certain style’ probably isn’t a priority.

“Graeme knew how to conduct himself in any situation,” Hateley claimed against all known evidence. “ And was also acutely aware of how to handle the politics AWAY from the pitch.

“To coin a phrase, he was a little bit smarter than the average bear. Now I’m not saying for one minute that Neil is not a bright lad. On the contrary, he’s also an intelligent and articulate person.

“But the way he has behaved lately – reacting so explosively in the heat of the moment – makes me wonder if he’s capable of acting in the same cold, ruthless manner which made Souness something special.”

It’s doubtful if there has ever been a more explosive manager of Rangers or Celtic than Souness.

At every turn he was able to find confrontation where none existed.

Various reporters suffered bans, James Traynor, then of The Herald was described as being ‘nothing more than a little socialist’ and STV found themselves banned from post match interviews for showing Souness shouting instructions from the tunnel area during one of his many touchline bans.

Like every new manager Neil Lennon is looking to learn- it’s doubtful if the Celtic manager has anything to learn from the Souness School of Management.

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