Graeme Souness and the transformation of Rangers

[Frankie 8,371]

Souness was paraded as our new manager on this day 30 years ago. On TRS today, Colin Armstrong looks back on the event and examines just how successful the move was...

 

http://www.therangersstandard.co.uk/index.php/articles/club-history/341-graeme-souness-and-the-transformation-of-rangers

 

It started with five simple words:

 

"Welcome to the club, Graeme".

 

It is hard to believe that five simple words could have such a seismic effect on a grand Scottish institution, the wider sporting environment or indeed Scottish society. But the context of these five words is important. They weren't just the mumblings of some random guy. They were uttered by the then Rangers Chairman, David Holmes, to the new player-manager Graeme Souness on the day that Rangers announced to the world that they were a sleeping giant no longer.

 

Graeme Souness's arrival at Rangers as the club's first player-manager sparked a period that would be dubbed "The Souness Revolution". Such a title seems dramatic, but it is a worthy one when you consider his impact on Rangers and the Scottish game in general.

 

With the benefit of hindsight, and with thirty years having passed from that momentous day, there is an argument to say – with some justification – that Souness's arrival sparked an attitude and business model that Scottish clubs could ill afford, with Rangers the ultimate casualty. But there is no denying that his time at Rangers is one of the most interesting periods in the history of Scottish football.

 

The fault lines of the catastrophic summer of 2012 lead back to Souness's arrival. No Souness; no David Murray. No David Murray; no Craig Whyte. No Craig Whyte... you get the picture.

 

But to lay the blame for Rangers' recent ills at the door of Souness is unfair. His arrival invigorated a club that had been in such a slumber it had won as many league titles in the preceding 22 years as Aberdeen had won in the previous seven.

 

Souness's arrival would sweep out the lethargy that had consumed the club for the majority of the previous two decades and reverse the slump. That in itself is not an overly unique feat. The key to Souness and his 'Revolution' was how he did it.

 

Mindful of the plight of English clubs and their ban from European competition after the death of 39 fans in the Heysel disaster, Souness saw an opportunity to reverse the age-old trend of Scottish players heading south. He cleverly used the carrot of European football to attract the best that England had to offer – including the captain of the national team at the time – to head north to ply their trade.

 

The excitement this generated made the weeks and months after Souness's arrived more exciting than any other period I can remember. Such a scenario developing today is unimaginable and that in itself makes his achievement in attracting these players unique.

 

Souness had all the qualities that Rangers needed at the time. He was headstrong, he was arrogant, he was determined. He was also, however, naïve and the passage of time would ensure that these character traits would create insurmountable problems that would lead to his exit. His ability to create enemies made it near impossible for him to continue. Initially, however, all his attributes and imperfections served Rangers well.

 

With Terry Butcher, Chris Woods and Graham Roberts in tow – alongside a healthy contingent of the Scottish lads already at the club – Souness secured Rangers' first title in nine years at the end of his first season, alongside the Skol League Cup.

 

The second season saw Souness's naivety kick-in. His constant tinkering with personnel and some poor player recruitment, mixed with a resurgent Celtic determined to win the title in their centenary year, saw the season end with only the Skol League Cup secured.

 

Souness, in typical fashion, went away, licked his wounds and came back stronger for the experience.

 

After Celtic's title win in '88, Souness would regain it the following season and never see it leave Ibrox for the rest of his time at the top of the marble staircase: Rangers won the league title in four out the five years he was in charge. The only domestic trophy he failed to find success in during his reign was the Scottish Cup.

 

But the trophies only tell half the story of the success of Souness. As mentioned earlier, it was the way he went about things that set him apart. Nothing exemplified this more than when he shook the footballing world its very foundations on the 10th July 1989 – the day Rangers signed Maurice Johnston.

 

The signing of Johnston was a master stroke from Souness and arguably his greatest act as Rangers manager.

 

First, and most importantly, it ended a practice that had become an embarrassment for the club.

 

Second, it knocked Celtic back by a good number of years. It wasn't until Fergus McCann and Tommy Burns arrived at Celtic Park that the club would again claim silverware. Johnston had inspired Celtic to win the Scottish Cup final in '89 just by sitting in the stand, having allegedly re-signed for his former club. Souness, who had so often incapacitated opponents through more physical means, took Celtic out the equation for a six-year, trophy-less period by persuading Johnston to reverse that decision and sign on at Ibrox. The pen apparently proved to be mightier than the thighs on this occasion.

 

Johnston went on to be a very successful Rangers player who was popular among supporters. He opened the door for the likes of Neil McCann and Chris Burke and countless other Catholic players to sign for the club – all of whom have been made very welcome.

 

Towards the end of his time at Rangers there were signs that things were not well with Souness. He seemed to be constantly clashing with officials, his own players (Roberts, Jan Bartram and McCoist being obvious examples) and even, on one famous occasion, Aggie Moffat, the tea lady at St Johnstone.

 

But it should be remembered that Souness was incredibly young at the time, his marriage to his first wife was unravelling and he was also, unbeknownst to anyone at the time, seriously ill with a heart condition.

 

When his time at Ibrox did come to an end in April 1991, not everyone was sad to see him go.

 

But with the passing of time, and with some mellowing and contrition from the man himself, there is a renewed vigour about Souness among Rangers supporters. Where he once divided opinion, he now appears to have the majority of the supporters at Ibrox back onside. Which is pleasing.

 

Watching Souness in his role as a pundit on Sky Sports, he cuts the cloth of man who is more relaxed and open-minded about things, which I have to say it suits him. He still has the ability to show some tenacity and I defy anyone to shake his hand and not come away grimacing, but overall he seems to have found a level of contentment on the fringes of the game away from the cut and thrust of things. It is rewarding to see this content and calmer side to him. It enriches his character which was already a fascinating one.

 

I will always look back fondly at his time in charge. It was a rollercoaster of a ride under him but it was a fantastic time to support Rangers. Big name stars, controversies and famous victories replaced the mediocrity that consumed the club in the early-to-mid-80s, and he made my Rangers-supporting life a far richer and more enjoyable experience.

 

And anyone who does that is alright by me.

[jhunter 0]

the man was a legend at the club and brought constant unparalleled success to the club, laying the foundations for the success WS then enjoyed in the 90's

 

But to lay the blame for Rangers' recent ills at the door of Souness is unfair

 

its not unfair , its moronic.

[RANGERRAB 3,461]

Not long after he'd left Rangers and gone to Liverpool, Souness gave an interview in which he talked about Rangers & his time in Scottish football as Rangers manager.

 

He made the point that he felt there were many people in Scottish football who simply didn't want to see Rangers doing well. At the time I never gave it much thought but perhaps today a lot of us can understand better what he was on about.

 

Maybe the next generation of mhedia pondlife we now have is much worse than Souness had but their aims & motives seem to remain the same don't they?

Edited April 8, 2016 by RANGERRAB

[Bluedell 5,472]

Not long after he'd left Rangers and gone to Liverpool, Souness gave an interview in which he talked about Rangers & his time in Scottish football as Rangers manager.

 

He made the point that he felt there were many people in Scottish football who simply didn't want to see Rangers doing well. At the time I never gave it much thought but perhaps today a lot of us can understand better what he was on about.

 

Maybe the next generation of mhedia pondlife we now have is much worse than Souness had but their aims & motives seem to remain the same don't they?

It's interesting to look at David Holmes's comments in 1988 when he was chairman.

 

"Rangers wish to have good relationships, and in most cases do so, with all sections of the Press, TV and radio. No responsible journalist will be excluded from Ibrox or denied reasonable access to information."

 

"Nevertheless I retain the right to defend the club against sensationalism and to thwart those who would...seek to blacken the name of Rangers in print. We are prepared to play our part in establishing good relations but it is a two-way process."

 

I guess things are worse now because of the internet but there were obviously major issues back then too.

[boabie 230]

"Thirty years ago today Graeme Souness was paraded as manager of Rangers – an appointment that transformed Scottish football and helped trigger a revolution in the game in England, the reverberations of which can still be felt today.

In fact, Rangers’ narrow victory over Dumbarton on Tuesday night, which secured their promotion to the Scottish Premiership, completed a cycle of three decades which commenced when Souness arrived at Ibrox.

Not that such a prospect seemed likely on April 8, 1986, although Souness seemed a logical appointment for Rangers, who had not won the Scottish title since 1978 and had fallen behind their arch-rivals, Celtic. They had also been overtaken by the upstarts of Aberdeen and Dundee United, the so-called New Firm of the Scottish game.

Rangers, moreover, were mired in an outmoded style personified by Jock Wallace, who had been manager in the 1970s and had only been given the job again in 1983 because the Ibrox board failed to prise Alex Ferguson from Aberdeen and Jim McLean from Dundee United. By the spring of 1986 intense fan disenchantment with Wallace, once a favourite, forced the board’s hand and he resigned.

As a dynamic captain of Scotland and previously Liverpool, the capture of Souness was a major coup for the Ibrox directors and, in particular, David Holmes, who had learned from this correspondent that Souness wanted to take over at Ibrox.

Souness told me in September 1985, during an interview for a BBC documentary series on Scottish football: “I can earn a great deal more money by playing football outside Scotland than I could in Scotland, but I’d still like to be player-manager of Rangers one day.

“I’ll settle for manager. Jock Wallace – watch out!”

The TV series was about to be screened when Souness succeeded Wallace and the footage had been cut from the final edit, only to be restored frantically by the producers in time for the press launch. By then it had been widely noted that Souness had never played in the Scottish leagues.

Such talk was a matter of supreme indifference to Souness, who had an altogether more expansive vision in mind, aided by the fact that English clubs had been banned from Europe in the wake of the Heysel Disaster in 1985. When he took up his position at Ibrox full time in July 1986, Souness began a sweep of England internationals, starting with Chris Woods and Terry Butcher.

By the time he had finished, Souness had added Trevor Francis, Mark Hateley, Trevor Steven, Gary Stevens and Ray Wilkins to his roster, not to mention seasoned English league players like Mark Falco, Trevor Hurlock and Graham Roberts. The traditionally restrictive pay policy at Ibrox had been discarded, an act which was clearly ominous for Aberdeen and which was a factor in persuading Ferguson to move to Old Trafford in November 1986.

At that stage Rangers, partly fuelled by the biggest club pools operation in the UK, had a greater turnover than the relatively moribund Manchester United. In September 1988, Souness joined the Rangers board, having upped the ante by persuading David Murray to buy the club for £6 million.

His most sensational and influential signing was completed the following summer – that of Maurice Johnston, a former Celtic striker and, far more significantly, a Roman Catholic. Johnston was on the verge of a return to the Parkhead club from Nantes when Souness intervened to divert him to Ibrox in the summer of 1989.

At a stroke, Souness had done away with the sectarian signing policy practised at Ibrox for the better part of a century. In 1989, too, Rangers’ position as the best provided club in Britain was assured by another calamity for English football, the Hillsborough Disaster.

Having rebuilt their stadium comprehensively after the 1971 Ibrox Disaster, Rangers were hardly affected by the Taylor Report into Hillsborough and the provisions which forced a wholesale reconstruction of English grounds, a civic engineering project comparable to that of the Channel Tunnel.

In Scotland Celtic would be driven to the verge of bankruptcy by the need to overhaul Parkhead, which had the largest standing terracings of any British ground.

In England, it was immediately clear that such colossal expenditure could not be financed by traditional revenue streams.

In response, English first division clubs resigned en masse from the Football League to form the Premier League, which was launched in 1992, underwritten by a broadcast rights deal with Rupert Murdoch’s BSkyB.

Rangers, though, were still top dogs in Britain, as they demonstrated by beating Leeds United home and away in the inaugural Champions League.

By that time Souness was manager of Liverpool, having taken over on April 16, 1991 – 25 years ago next Thursday. At Ibrox, though, Walter Smith extended his legacy, taking Rangers to nine successive championships and equalling Celtic’s record under Jock Stein, but the wealth available to English clubs had swung the pendulum.

Murray tried to keep Rangers on parity and allowed Smith’s successor, Dick Advocaat, to spend close to £80 million on signings. Murray’s endeavours to match salaries paid outside Scotland led him to the ill-fated Employment Benefit Trust (EBT) scheme and a consequent challenge by HMRC.

That issue – still be to be resolved prompted Lloyds Bank to order Murray to sell Rangers to Craig Whyte for £1 in 2011. The following summer, Whyte’s holding company had been liquidated and the team was forced to resume activity in the third division of the former Scottish Football League.

Tuesday’s win over Dumbarton means that next season the top flight of Scottish football will feature Rangers once again. “The profile of the Premier League in Scotland has been diminished,” said Souness of his former club’s absence.

“It’s not as interesting to people outside of Scotland as it was when Rangers were there.”

Nor, he might have added, have Rangers ever been as interesting to people outside Scotland as when he was in charge at Ibrox."

 

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2016/04/08/how-graeme-souness-triggered-an-english-and-scottish-revolution/

[alexscottislegend 2,222]

I remember it well. We were hated by the English media for taking their beloved England players. Typical comments were: "Their form will suffer by playing in Scottish football.' At that time we were arguably the biggest and richest club in British football , Man U. notwithstanding. We may never get back to that level but we should aim to be a global player. Our main target should be qualification for the Champions League. Thanks to the incompetence of Keltic and all who sail in her, Scotland's co-efficient has plummeted so that we will have to negotiate 3 qualifying rounds. There's no point in spending on new players for the parochial Scottish League; and we will never be invited into the EPL, so we must start from scratch - just like we did with the fourth tier in Scotland.

[limeburner 0]

Big Ron Atkinson(man utd manager)said at the time.

"£750,000 for Terry Butcher? It will need to be Scottish pounds,We havent got that kind of money."

[compo 6,598]

The man oozed class