Damien Duff thought he’d be on his way out the door at Blackburn when Graeme Souness was appointed manager in March 2000.
The former Rangers boss had cleared out a number of Irish players when he took over at Liverpool in 1991 with that reputation following him throughout his career.
Duff held his place in the side but he did fear the worst when the former Ibrox gaffer took over at Ewood Park as he told Si Ferry:
18 minutes in
I thought that I would probably be out the door. There was always stories that at Liverpool he got rid of all the Paddies, the Irish or the Catholics so either was I was fucked but he was great with me.
I remember the first couple of weeks, I don’t know what the story was. He got rid of certain players at Liverpool because they were getting old and not fitting into his plans. It was nothing to do with being Catholic.
At Blackburn he wanted me to play, he said he’d married a Catholic, I’m not sure whether that was his second or third wife. I don’t know how many wives he’s had but either number two or number three was a Catholic and listen he was great with me.
In December 2000 The Irish Times reported:
At Anfield, among the first three players Souness sold were Steve Staunton, Ray Houghton and Ronnie Whelan. At Blackburn Souness has dropped Jason McAteer and Alan Kelly, ignored Jeff Kenna (until Saturday) sold Lee Carsley to Coventry City, off-loaded Keith Gillespie to Wigan and sent the Republic of Ireland under-21 player Ben Burgess to Australia for a season on loan.
Suddenly the conspiracy theorists sensed an argument and superficially it does not look a bad one. All the while people tried to remember an Irish player Souness had signed. They couldn’t find one. Then they remembered he was player-manager of Rangers. Therefore he must be a Protestant bigot.
So now it was down to Souness to respond. In midweek he said of Staunton-Houghton-Whelan: “They were all players who came to me and asked to leave, so the whole thing is a complete load of nonsense.” And on Saturday in a tight, mucky corridor of Prenton Park this column summoned up the recklessness to invite Souness into a quiet corner and discuss it further.
“It originated from some journalist who felt he could get a cheap headline,” said Souness. “I read the article and the vast majority of it wasn’t true, the facts weren’t right, just wrong. I wouldn’t want to go into it but if you look at my record as a manager, I should be the last person being accused of being anti-Irish.”
Souness’s managerial record includes, in 1989, the signing of Maurice Johnston, a Catholic, by Rangers. You might recall it caused a bit of a stir in Ireland.
That is what Souness alluded to when he then said: “I understand sectarianism and hate it. My children are Catholics. I was married to a Catholic first time round. My wife’s maiden name now is Kelly – Irish family. I am the last person who should be accused of this. I wouldn’t want to talk about it any more.”
Souness has recently been linked with becoming a director at Ibrox or investing in the club but has body swerved the speculation.
