[Archived] Graeme Souness

[Jan]

That's the spirit Jan. Through thick and thin. No one man is bigger than the club and all that.

Don't really care that much, to be honest. And this "man" is bigger than the club for me. And should be for any sensible fan. The only thing worse could be Sourpuss in to "mentor" Ince. Then we'd have 2 crud training regimes, 2 managers who regularly play players out of position and a "mentor" who could start an argument in an empty room. Recipe for success!!! NOT.

[Hasta]

Don't really care that much, to be honest. And this "man" is bigger than the club for me.

[Hi Mack]

Don't really care that much, to be honest. And this "man" is bigger than the club for me. And should be for any sensible fan. The only thing worse could be Sourpuss in to "mentor" Ince. Then we'd have 2 crud training regimes, 2 managers who regularly play players out of position and a "mentor" who could start an argument in an empty room. Recipe for success!!! NOT.

2 of my best ever days :

PNE away - Promotion

Cardiff- League Cup triumph

Both masterminded by.........Mr Souness.

I would prefer BFS but Souness wouldnt be the worst appointment!

[Jan]

2 of my best ever days :

PNE away - Promotion

Cardiff- League Cup triumph

Both masterminded by.........Mr Souness.

I would prefer BFS but Souness wouldnt be the worst appointment!

Dominic Matteo on the left wing, Andy Cole being forced out and no replacement being bought. Having 4 left backs on the pitch at once- and I'm not sure any of them were actually playing left back. Ciccio Grabbi. Attacking Dwight Yorke. Tactical ineptitude in abundance. CSKA Sofia away when he tried to lose the game so he wouldn't miss any more Thursdays at home. Celtic, where his behaviour cost us the tie. A derided training regime. Players that were obviously unfit- Mr Hughes even commented on that and it was plain for all to see.

I could go on.

And I'm pretty sure that the Cardiff formation was not Souness' idea.

Any not totally incompetent manager could have got us promoted. Especially with Uncle Jack's millions to play with. I said at the time there were better out there, and was proved right in Mr Hughes.

So now, "not totally incompetent" is a PLUS? How sad.

[Hughesy]

Freidel....Tugay....I could go on too! Two of our greatest servants.

Souey would certainly sort out the softies in our squad and would demand much much, more from the sidelines that the statue of ince.

He wouldnt be a bad appointment, but id prefer big Sam.

[Amo]

Come on, Jan, you're so biased it's untrue. You're basically saying Souness was ######, and any success he did have was a fluke? That's rubbish. I'm honest enough to admit Souness did lose the plot and made some awful decisions, but I won't discredit what he did for the club. If he was such an idiotic asshole, why did the players get promotion and win a cup for him?

[Hughesy]

For the first 3 years he was class, however following that he lost the plot. Its simple....only give him a 3 year contract

[RevidgeBlue]

For the first 3 years he was class, however following that he lost the plot. Its simple....only give him a 3 year contract

3 years!

That would be 2 years 6 months too long in the event our Board were insane enough to appoint him again.

[neekoy]

I can not even believe this is an option. TBH the squad he had when he won promotion was quite a bit better then the one we have now.

Souness would not save us from relegation.

[Mr. E]

BFS has ruled himself out, so I really don't see who besides Souness is left. It's a gamble, but it can work again.

[Mike Graham]

well said Jan.

Mr Sournes: no no no no no

[Alan75]

I suspect we will still be discussing this next Monday

[American]

You all do forget that the season he started losing the plot the team still showed battle when the chips were down and fought to stay up.

[Parsonblue]

Don't really care that much, to be honest. And this "man" is bigger than the club for me. And should be for any sensible fan. The only thing worse could be Sourpuss in to "mentor" Ince. Then we'd have 2 crud training regimes, 2 managers who regularly play players out of position and a "mentor" who could start an argument in an empty room. Recipe for success!!! NOT.

When this club was on its knees in 1999 it was Graeme Souness who turned it around. He turned a bunch of underperforming players into a promotion winning squad and then won us our first major Cup Final since 1928. You may not like the guy but the record books and the history of Blackburn Rovers will show that he brought success to the club. Things went sour at the end but he made an impact on the club when he arrived. That is what we are looking for at the moment. We need someone who will get the players performing or ship them out. If he steps on one or two highly paid and over inflated egos I can't say I would be overly upset. It was clear that these players had little regard for the supporters with their performance on Saturday. Then of course, having been humiliated by Wigan do they come in for extra training the next day? No, let's all go - with the exception of Roque and Tugay I hear - on a two day bender to Dublin with two of the most important games in the club's recent history on the horizon. Is it any wonder that the fans are turning their backs on the club!!!

[philipl]

Massive gamble - how many times have managers gone back and been a success second time around?

Smacks of hope triumphing over experience

- Souness was capable of putting out teams when under pressure every bit as bonkers as Ince has done

- Everyone knows that Hughes had to sort out fitness and strength levels when he came to Ewood as manager. Fitness and strength is one of the biggest problems we face again now so why bring in a guy who is clueless in that department?

Souness has a track record of achievement when he has been out of the management game and that is the only glimmer of hope if he is brought back but then how do we get rid when the inevitable tail off of performance, the rows and the personal vendettas kick in?

[T4E]

You all do forget that the season he started losing the plot the team still showed battle when the chips were down and fought to stay up.

THIS.

How can Souness be worse than Ince? It's impossible. Get him in now. Get anybody in, I don't care.

[Mr Creosote]

I suspect we will still be discussing this next Monday

I'd agree. Today's the day and with no news conferences planned or anything at all leaking from the club it looks like more dithering.

[bubblerrovers]

Not sure about Souness, but we won't have many options, he couldn't be any worse than Ince tho, Would certainly get behind him, he has loads of dodgy contacts around the game so may pull of a few good signings come Jan

[Driftpeasant]

Brad Friedel, who may be the nicest man in football, slagged off Souness in interviews after he left.

That alone makes Souey persona non grata to me. Anyone but Souness.

[broadsword]

Ince didn't go to Dublin, so it's not like he can't be called in today.

This is incompetence bordering on the criminal.

I said before that if Ince stays for the season I can't see us getting 30 points. I'll correct that, I can't see us getting 25 (maybe even 20?)

[philipl]

Ince didn't go to Dublin, so it's not like he can't be called in today.

This is incompetence bordering on the criminal.

I said before that if Ince stays for the season I can't see us getting 30 points. I'll correct that, I can't see us getting 25 (maybe even 20?)

Extrapolating the last eleven games, we will get 19 points. Just like Derby last season, our last win will have come against Newcastle in September.

[Nelsonfan]

Souness even as a short term replacement is someone I don't think I want back at the club. Sure to begin with in his tenure here before, he did well - And I'm not trying to take that achievement away from him.

But I think with Big Sam and Alan Curbishley both now available, we could do just as well with either of those managers.

My personal favourite would be AC - I think he can get the best out of players, would have the backing of the board he didn't get at West Ham, and has proven he can motivate players.

I also prefer the style of play he seems to like to try and get.

Souness - Sorry, but thanks for what you did - but going back to a previous manager is nearly always a mistake in my opinion.

[rover6]

Brad Friedel, who may be the nicest man in football, slagged off Souness in interviews after he left.

Mmm... so the aloofness in interviews isn't his true personality. Fair enough.

The options for JW are depressing:

Listless Curbs.

Bumptious Allardyce.

Vacuous Souness.

Edit: I guess we could go for someone else, so not necessarily THAT depressing.

[The Producer]

I can honestly say that nothing in Blackburn's history has ever astonished me more (and that's saying something) than people wanting Souness back after the state we were in when he left us. He was great in the Championship with Dunn, Duff and Jansen in, but the modern Premiership found him out. Whether he won a cup is irrelevant to how he'll cope with a Premiership that has moved on even more since he was last struggling. The problems that a short-term manager needs to solve to keep us up are:

Tactical ineptness - is Souey an improvement? No

Lack of coaching expertise - is Souey/Boersma better than Ince and current bunch? No - in fact, probably the only worse option out there.

No detailed knowledge of good players to bring in in Jan - is Souey an improvement? No.

Unmotivated players - would random shouting do the trick? Can't tell for sure here, but I suspect "no" when it isn't backed up with good coaching (or coaching team) or tactical ability.

So I reckon Souness is probably the one person out there who would be worse than Ince in our current situation, and yet he is supposedly in the running! Brian Kidd would do a better job than Souness - at least he can coach (and I would lie in front of Kidd's car to stop Kidd getting into the stadium)

I'm very sceptical about BFS, particulary following Newcastle, but if it's him or Souness then I'll welcome him with open arms.

More generally, always a bit mystified when people/press talk about bringing in a manager to keep us up, rather than getting someone who'll be good in the long run. Who are these people? And why are they out of work when that's the primary objective of half of the chairmen in the Premiership?

[gillibrand]

I can honestly say that nothing in Blackburn's history has ever astonished me more (and that's saying something) than people wanting Souness back after the state we were in when he left us. He was great in the Championship with Dunn, Duff and Jansen in, but the modern Premiership found him out. Whether he won a cup is irrelevant to how he'll cope with a Premiership that has moved on even more since he was last struggling. The problems that a short-term manager needs to solve to keep us up are:

Tactical ineptness - is Souey an improvement? No

Lack of coaching expertise - is Souey/Boersma better than Ince and current bunch? No - in fact, probably the only worse option out there.

No detailed knowledge of good players to bring in in Jan - is Souey an improvement? No.

Unmotivated players - would random shouting do the trick? Can't tell for sure here, but I suspect "no" when it isn't backed up with good coaching (or coaching team) or tactical ability.

So I reckon Souness is probably the one person out there who would be worse than Ince in our current situation, and yet he is supposedly in the running! Brian Kidd would do a better job than Souness - at least he can coach (and I would lie in front of Kidd's car to stop Kidd getting into the stadium)

I'm very sceptical about BFS, particulary following Newcastle, but if it's him or Souness then I'll welcome him with open arms.

More generally, always a bit mystified when people/press talk about bringing in a manager to keep us up, rather than getting someone who'll be good in the long run. Who are these people? And why are they out of work when that's the primary objective of half of the chairmen in the Premiership?

You can be as sceptical as you want but one thing that is for sure is that if INCE does not leave we will be relegated!