‘Bitter auld dick’ ‘just so full of rage!’ ‘Shows he’s still hurting’ Souness under fire over ‘Celtic captain’

Graeme Souness had it both ways last night as ITV kicked off coverage of the European Championships from Munich.

To their core English audience he was the grizzly patriotic Jock while to their Scottish viewers he was the uber-staunch true Ranger, a title he has embraced since the death of Walter Smith.

Television appearances are thin on the ground for the former Blackburn Rovers boss since Sky Sports decided that he was no longer of interest to an audience unfamiliar with his cowardly boot-boy antics of the eighties.

TalkSPORT, with fellow traveller Jim White, is now the main income generator topped up by a weekly column for the Daily Mil.

Over the last year Souness has been pitching for a job at Ibrox, he was involved in the recruitment of Micky Beale’s successor but scored an own goal when he told TalkSPORT listeners that Frank Lampard was his choice to manage the serial losers.

That admission ended any hopes Souness had of an easy salary, he has settled for an ‘Ambassador’ role giving him the same status as leg ends like Mark Hateley and big Derek Johnstone.

Despite Celtic’s run of success Souness has been firmly on message, insisting that ‘the gap isn’t that big’ with Simon Jordan destroying that claim regularly on air.

Four defeats and a moral victory has delivered another dose of reality to all those at Ibrox with the season topped off by two defeats to Celtic as Callum McGregor lifted the 117th and 118th trophies in the club’s history.

McGregor has haunted Ibrox fans over the last three seasons, dictating the play in the Derby matches and showing up the false geniuses that are Todd Cantwell, John Lundstram and the rest of the supporting cast. Borna Barisic left a broken man.

All that sticks in the craw of Souness, with a level playing field Celtic have saw off a succession of managers and Revolutions! with the beaming smiles of McGregor and Scott Brown on the podium when the trophies get dished out.

Analysing Scotland getting the runaround from Germany Souness couldn’t let the opportunity go past him as he singled out ‘the Celtic captain’ for criticism.

There was no derogatory mention of the Liverpool captain, the Aston Villa midfielder, the Manchester United midfielder or the Norwich City goalkeeper.

It was petty and childish, what you would expect from someone on a Message Board, not an expert on national television for the opening night of a major international tournament.

Unless they are playing to the Ibrox gallery and the hope of a direct payday or invites to Q and A sessions with Phil Clement and White.

Souness hasn’t been directly involved in management since 2006, being sacked by Newcastle soon after the £8m signing of Jean-Alain Boumsong from his old mate Dave Murray.

At Blackburn Rovers Souness signed Barry Ferguson and Tugay from his old club, in 2012 it was revealed that he received an ‘EBT’ payment as BDO began the liquidation process of Rangers.

McGregor is the only Scotland player to score at a major Championship this century, Souness never played in a European Championships, he was involved in the 78, 82 and 86 World Cup failures.