After eight months of delusion Graeme Souness has admitted that he won’t be taking up a job at Ibrox.
Since the death of Walter Smith the former Newcastle United boss has taken on iconic status among Ibrox fans dreaming of a return to the glory days under Dave Murray.
After being ditched by Sky Sports at the end of last season Souness has been touting himself for a variety of jobs despite now being based in sleepy Bournemouth.
A blazer and brogues deal would have been ideal but with no cash on the table and his public undermining of Philippe Clement no offer has been made from Ibrox CEO James Bisgrove.
This morning The Sun reported:
RANGERS icon Graeme Souness has confirmed he will not be involved with his former club in any official capacity.
The former Light Blues player-manager was part of the delegation which interviewed current Ibrox gaffer Philippe Clement to become the replacement for the sacked Michael Beale in October 2023.
This involvement with his old side led many to assume he would be offered a formal position with the club.
But speaking at a Viaplay media event at Hampden to promote the satellite broadcaster’s coverage of the Scottish Gas Scottish Cup quarter-finals this weekend, Souness put the issue to bed.
He said: “That’s been and gone. We spoke about it, but it’s not going to happen. I’m not going to enlarge on it.”
EXCLUSIVE: Graeme Souness would’ve picked Frank Lampard for Rangers job
Full story here ?https://t.co/gqHqndIapD
— talkSPORT (@talkSPORT) October 26, 2023
Souness was called in to help the search for Micky Beale’s successor but unfortunately didn’t think that Clement was the man for the job.
That was bad enough but when he started telling Jim White and Simon Jordan that Frank Lampard was the man for the job the door to the Blue Room closed on the former Blackburn Rovers boss.
Back in October Souness was still confident that he had another earned in the pipeline as the Glasgow Times reported:
Although Souness’ new position will not have an official title, it is understood he will have a say in decisions being made in the football department of the club.
Opening up on his talks with Gers, Souness told talkSPORT today: “I’m not sure it’s a senior advisory role. It’s more of a consultant, ambassador. But I’m a Rangers supporter Jim.
“I had the chance to go back early season and I didn’t feel the job description was right for me but I’d love to help them. I want them to be successful again. I want them to be top of the league, I want them to be top of the Scottish game and do well in Europe going forward.
“If I can offer any advice to any part of the footballing part of the job then I’ll do it. And I have to say I’m pretty close to agreeing everything, we’ve just got a few things to iron out.”
It seems that Souness has had to settle for a media cheerleader role similar to Kenny Miller, Neil McCann, Cammy Bell, Steven Thompson and Kris Boyd.
There is apparently no truth in the story currently doing the rounds that he couldn’t be accommodated at iBrox because his enormous head simply didn’t fit through the doorway….
Make no mistake ,if the Rangers could afford his gargantuan salary …plus expenses of course ,he would have been there before you could say ‘ incompetent referees ‘ ? For sure ….
He said we bottled it on Sunday
But no mention at all that their bottle crashed at home on the Saturday
The entire media just glossing over their defeat , it’s like it never even happened
I was led to believe he was a Hearts supporter…
Then he tells Jim White that he’s a Sevco supporter (well Rangers died 2012) in his words –
There again – He’s played and managed at Liebrox I suppose so enough said !
Add mark Wilson, hugh keevins to the list of cheer leaders.