Graeme Souness doubled down spectacularly as he tried to put a gloss on yet another defeat in the Glasgow Derby for his beloved Tribute Act.
Last year talks were held with James Bisgrove to find a role that could provide Souness with a blazer and brogues but terms couldn’t be agreed.
The man that took Jean-Alain Boumsong to Newcastle for £8m after he had been signed as a Bosman by Dave Murray was called into the recruitment process to find a successor to Micky Beale but went public with his preference for Frank Lampard.
The former Chelsea boss is believed to be standing over his phone.
Last season TalkSPORT covered Scottish football on the Monday after each Glasgow Derby with Souness standing by the message that there was no real gap between the teams despite Celtic winning the SPFL matches 10-1 on points and taking the Scottish Cup with victory over Phil Clement’s Galacticos.
Rather than face up to the reality of the situation Souness went to incredible lengths to deny that Celtic are superior in every position on and off the park, even to the extent of having a home ground which fans can attend.
Kris Boyd, Neil McCann and Billy Dodds were unable to put up any defence for Sunday’s spineless humiliation but from his base in the South of England Souness pulled down the shutters on the grim reality up the road.
Tuning in this morning Football Scotland reports Souness saying:
It can change very quickly. I didn’t see Jack Butland making save after save after save. I will keep defending this until I’m blue in the face. I didn’t think we got absolutely battered yesterday. No-one is telling me Celtic stopped at 3-0 yesterday. If they could have, they would have looked to get five or six.
Yeah, we were short yesterday. We’ve been short for years. But I didn’t see a game yesterday that was so one-sided I was embarrassed.
Souness added:
The gap is there but it is not insurmountable. It might be three players, it might be four players. If someone was to say to the manager ‘there’s £50million’ it would change, if he got lucky and bought the right players. When both teams were doing nine-in-a-row the opposition would have thought ‘this is never going to change’. This will change.
Souness neatly ignored the FACTS! that over the last three seasons Celtic have had a smaller player wage bill, that is likely to change this season.
Jim White was hosting the show, hoping to get some grown up debate and discussion from Souness with some callers admitting that the gap is huge on and off the park between the so-called rivals.
Simon Jordan knows the petulance of Souness well enough to take a back seat, appearing to mock the petted lip of his studio guest as the former Rangers manager struggled through some very uncomfortable air time.
Hopefully if Barry Ferguson or Alex Rae succeeds Clement a role and salary can be found for Souness to supplement his income from TalkSPORT and the Daily Mail.
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— Football Scotland ⚽️🏴 (@Football_Scot) September 1, 2024
3 Comments
by James Cullen
Let’s be honest, celtic destroyed the phoenix club yesterday, and we could and will get better.
Souness believes an investment of 50 million for players would turn the tide…..as happened when he came to the real rangers ….
He also.forgets that those multi millions spent on RFC led to its death, because it was money they didn’t have.
Here’s the thing…Mr Souness forgets that teams must.operate within their limits nowadays, and to that end, a “”gift”” of 50 million would bring the newco into the trouble zone via uefa ffp laws….something they are already monitored for by uefa.
Souness is a relic, and a bigot….always has and always will be.
Perhaps his heart attacks starved his brain of oxygen and he has problems understanding up to date laws.
As for 3 players being enough…..maybe 3 keepers on the line with butland would stop a celtic goal being scored…but that team needs to be totally cleared out….and given they are skint, and no one wants their galactigos, it looks like they’ll be a long time catching up with celtic….
As for ffp, Scotland does not have such a thing…simply because it would not be suitable for the mordir club
by Valentine's day massacre
He’s an old romantic ,is Mr Souness ! First of all if someone was going to give the tribute act £50 million sovs ,they would have done so by now rather than soft repayable loans ! Secondly if he thinks that Celtic FC will stand still and admire theRangers bringing in 3 or 4 players and not buy better and more expensive players at the same time ,then he has certainly not been paying attention ! Going by his blinkered assumption , Celtic will allow theRangers to catch up,overtake and be successful whilst sitting on their hands . Whatever he’s been smoking….it is way too strong for a man of his age !
by Sam Waggett
I worked with GS and his opinions are based on his time at the rangers he bought players that the rangers couldn’t afford which ended Rangers fc in 2012 this opened the ipox gates for the current squatters to move in.
On Sunday Celtic never got out of second gear and should have scored more. The first 10 mins the rangers played well but to say they should have scored is laughable if you look the 2 attempts in the first 10 mins both times the players were offside. Souness saying £50 million for 3 players is unbelievable firstly where would they get the money ? They would have to have new owners and reports last week says the rangers are valued at £110 million although this doesn’t include the 120 million still owed to the taxman. Secondly what players worth 50 million would play in Scotland never mind the rangers.
Souness & Jim White are lifetime fans of ‘rangers’ and will talk them up about the small gap in their minds but it is a (massive gap) between Celtic and the ‘rangers’ and if they don’t start running the club as a business there won’t be a team to talk about.