Graeme Souness has been handed a Special Merit Award by PFA Scotland on the back of a five year stint as player-manager then manager of Rangers.
During his stint at the club he introduced his business partner Dave Murray to the board, in May 2011 Murray sold up for £1 with the club going into administration and liquidation with a year of Murray getting out.
Souness joined Spurs from school in Edinburgh, made his name at Middlesbrough and Liverpool then moved to Ibrox in 1986 from Sampdoria.
His arrival at Ibrox brought in unprecedented levels of debt to Scottish football, while Murray had a number of ways of fielding players that his club couldn’t afford Dundee, Motherwell, Livingston, Hearts, Partick Thistle and Dunfermline went into administration with players having contracts terminated.
As well as putting the boot into George McCluskey and Billy Stark Souness signed Terry Hurlock, Graeme Roberts and Mel Sterland who all liked to ‘leave something’ in on the end of challenges.
? BREAKING: The @PFAScotland Special Merit Award goes to…
Graeme Souness – three-time Scottish Premier Division champion, three-time European Cup winner and Scotland National Team Roll of Honour member ? pic.twitter.com/vI7NE1o2nT
— Sky Sports Scotland (@ScotlandSky) May 5, 2024
Souness’ involvement in Scottish football didn’t end with his move to Liverpool in April 1991, down the years he got Blackburn and Newcastle to sign Tugay, Barry Ferguson, Craig Moore and Jean Alain Boomsong from Ibrox.
EBT payments were made to Souness by his friend Murray, in July 2007 the Metropolitan Police raided Ibrox for paperwork in connection to the Boomsong deal with details passed on to HMRC.
After being sacked by Newcastle at the age of 53 Souness was never offered another managerial role in football.
Covering the Lord Stevens Report in 2007, a year after Souness left Newcastle, The Guardian reported:
The main focus of the report targets agents though some of the clubs are set to face further investigation from the Football Association. Lord Stevens has also expressed concern about 15 agents and third parties involved in some 17 transfers. Lord Stevens’s report specifically lists concerns about two managers.
One is Sam Allardyce, and a conflict of interest with his former agent son Craig and Bolton Wanderers. The other is Graeme Souness, with Lord Stevens reporting “inconsistencies in evidence” provided by the former Newcastle manager and Kenneth Shepherd, son of Magpies chairman Freddy Shepherd.
Every club in Scotland has former players like John Clark who go largely unrecognised while PFA Scotland chase glamour names for 10 minutes attention on Sky Sports News.
?? “There’s nothing like being recognised by your peers.”
?? “It’s an Old Firm game, anything can happen.”
Graeme Souness on winning the Special Merit Award as he previews this Saturday’s huge clash between Celtic & Rangers – live on Sky ?? pic.twitter.com/hQR4meAM93
— Sky Sports Scotland (@ScotlandSky) May 5, 2024
You forgot his EBT award https://t.co/Ojtg2cfeFY pic.twitter.com/m1pw9qCfsH
— RhebelRhebel (@RhebelRhebel) May 6, 2024
On 17th May 2001, Blackburn Rovers agreed to buy Tugay from Rangers for £1.3m.
Around the same date, Rangers opened an EBT account for the Blackburn Rovers manager.
On 13th June 2001, while still manager of Blackburn Rovers, Souness requested £30k from his sub-trust. https://t.co/FZpfaNdBcH
— Rangers Tax-Case (@rangerstaxcase) September 20, 2022
I never will be Souness’ s biggest fan , but he did do a remarkable charity campaign for a young girl with a serious life condition recently and was well worth a commendation . If the award is part charity work ,..then fair play to the guy .
Happy to hear he helped a young girl…BUT..Overall….He’s a FUD…Known as Peeness in our house.
Peeeeeeness!! A Dinosaur stuck in the 80’s..Only the Knuckodraggaz cd relate to this SCUMBAG!!
Ah the old JA Boumsong deal .
I seem to remember an agent on CSS saying that he touted the deal around some scottish clubs and give David Murray his due he was the only one with that balls to do the deal .
The first thing that came to my mind was
A young French international prospect CB for free . Now WHY would you need balls to do a deal like that ? .
Maybe someone could ask.Fergus or the city of London police
Dodgy bstrds being rewarded by dodgy bstrds
Clearly voted for by people with little or no direct recollection of his time in Scottish football. He was really only popular with Huns, and back then even some of them weren’t that taken with a flash git Tory boy. He clashed with players, referees, managers, fans and tea ladies up and down the country. He may be credited with ‘waking the sleeping giant’ but I think events later proved his Assistant Manager was undoubtedly the more astute coach, while he crashed and burned in his ‘dream job’ at Liverpool and achieved little elsewhere other than creating aggro everywhere he went.
He was once a hero of mine, as a child watching that amazing Liverpool side with King Kenny etc…..then he eventually joined thems and that was very much the end of that, as it always is with any player I like that joins them. Good guy to wank in a nanosecond.
The OO do a lot of work for charidee, apparently…doesn’t mean I wouldn’t wipe them off the face of the Earth in a heartbeat given the chance.
That cunt is a fuckin disease.HH
This award is up there with Minty Moonbeams’ Knighthood. A
bunch of charlatans with zero self awareness.
Doggy His Has Every Day!!
Graeme Souness EBT. Dodgy transfers with Everton, Blackburn and Newcastle ? Award reward.
Yes,
“Special Merit”
for all those big fibees you tell!
The Club you played for died in 2012.
Lots of their supporters just haven’t noticed!