22 Years ago We appointed Graeme Souness ...

[StubbsUK]

Read the full article on BRFCS.com

https://www.brfcs.com/magazine/articles/sou-yes!-when-rovers-hired-souness/196

I was in my 3rd job out of college at the time, working in IT for the local council and I was manning the admin cabin at Witton for some local sports event where Souness was presenting trophies or something.

He came to the cabin with some councillor who left him in my hands, so I offered him a brew ... "Yes please, tea, milk & 2 sugars."

I look around for the tea ...

"Ah, sorry, we've no tea"

"Coffee then, the same please."

Off I go to make his brew, only to find ...

"... we've no milk ... or sugar"

The look on Graham's face was petrifying, I could feel the blood run from my face and I must have looked like I was going to cry!

"Never mind", and he wandered off.

[chaddyrovers]

I remember watching him on Sky Sports in the studio doing analysis on a Premier League game and his straight talking was impressive just a week or 2 before his appointment as manager here. 

He's never changed and he still one of my favourite pundit. 

He was great manager for us and his promotion team was a joy to watched. 

He managed to lead us to beating those Dingles twice in a season and the 5 nil home win was one of my favourite wins as Rovers fan. 

It's Shame how it ended but I will never had a bad word to say about his tenure here. 

This is only one Greame Souness.

Edited March 14, 2022 by chaddyrovers

[toogs]

A winner.
 

Pretty much the opposite of our current manager in every way. 

[oldjamfan1]

A world class player in his day and a true leader. A great Rovers manager and it was lovely to see him reminiscing fondly about his time at Ewood recently.

Just think of the things he did for us.....

Promotion, Europe, Worthington Cup, Friedel, Tugay etc etc etc

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

Great memories,his Rovers team was exciting to watch,winning meant something personal to him.The good he did far,far outweighs bad.

Top bloke.

[SuperBrfc]

How we could do with such an appointment today. So many good memories of Rovers under his management. The main thing about him was that he was a winner and that was evident in our results under him, particularly from 2000-03.

Big wins against Bolton and the dingles in the promotion season. Away wins at Chelsea and Arsenal, a double over that frightening Arsenal side containing a prime Thierry Henry, United put away at Ewood more than once, winning the League Cup. It all feels like a dream now, but I'm so glad I experienced it all!

Shame things soured a bit towards the end, but there was a lot more good than bad under Souness. In a recent interview, he said him and John Williams would push each other on to do better. He also said everybody in the boardroom was on the same page and all they wanted was for the club to succeed.

The latter point is the reason why I get so angry at the situation today. No winners, no will to win, no boardroom to speak of, yet they will talk bullshit for England while their actions say something else. Fantastic memories of Souey's time here, though.

[DeeCee]

Just awesome memories of his tenure 👍👍👍

[Claytons Left Boot]

1 hour ago, chaddyrovers said:

He's never changed and he still one of my favourite pundit. 

For me, Chaddy, he is the best pundit bar none. The sort of bloke that, when he speaks, you stop and listen because he’s been there, done it and got the t-shirt. He’s photogenic, intelligent and comes across very well on tv. Great guy.

 

[simongarnerisgod]

i loved the souness era,some great matches and some fantastic clashes with referees from the man himself(remember him accusing graeme poll of being a spurs fan!!),went a bit sour in the end when he did`nt properly replace duff and dunn,the jansen accident did`nt help either,more good memories than bad ones,that`s for sure

[Oldgregg86]

The guy who used to take me to the games said if we hire souness I will never go again why he’s there. He didn’t ….. for about 6 weeks 😂

[Waggy76]

Seems like only yesterday !

Tom Finn , John Williams and Graeme Souness ...

Look at the 3 stooges today and cry !

[Upside Down]

That's what a football club looks like when it's run properly. 

You're struggling to get back into the top flight so you pot the guy who's currently not good enough and bring in a proper footballing man who gets the job done.

I will always have a massive appreciation for everything Souness did and will look back fondly at his time here.

[simongarnerisgod]

1 minute ago, Upside Down said:

That's what a football club looks like when it's run properly. 

You're struggling to get back into the top flight so you pot the guy who's currently not good enough and bring in a proper footballing man who gets the job done.

I will always have a massive appreciation for everything Souness did and will look back fondly at his time here.

there is zero ambition or know how in the current set up,mowbray would have been shown the door 2 seasons ago with a competent ceo

[Upside Down]

3 minutes ago, simongarnerisgod said:

there is zero ambition or know how in the current set up,mowbray would have been shown the door 2 seasons ago with a competent ceo

Absolutely. He’s our fourth longest serving manager now. The three people above him oversaw some of the club's most successful era's. What a shameful eleven years and counting we have had.

[tomphil]

1 hour ago, Claytons Left Boot said:

For me, Chaddy, he is the best pundit bar none. The sort of bloke that, when he speaks, you stop and listen because he’s been there, done it and got the t-shirt. He’s photogenic, intelligent and comes across very well on tv. Great guy.

 

Always remember the BBE concourse bustling around pre games with anxious chatter and buzz then almost silence when Souness came on the tv screens.  He really did stop everybody and make them listen i bet some of the dressing room motivational -and bollockings- was something to behold.

One of if not THE fav all time Rovers manager of mine and my kind of guy. Even his time came to an end though.

[Upside Down]

28 minutes ago, tomphil said:

Always remember the BBE concourse bustling around pre games with anxious chatter and buzz then almost silence when Souness came on the tv screens.  He really did stop everybody and make them listen i bet some of the dressing room motivational -and bollockings- was something to behold.

One of if not THE fav all time Rovers manager of mine and my kind of guy. Even his time came to an end though.

The atmosphere at Ewood back then was out of this world. 

[jim mk2]

Brilliant though he is on TV, Souness is wasted as a pundit. He's only 68, younger than Hodgson and Ranieri, who are still managing, and still has so much to offer the game.

Who wouldn't have him back at Rovers now? A few pearls of wisdom and he'd have this team back in the promotion race

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

He lost the plot at the end but it was great while it lasted.

[simongarnerisgod]

1 hour ago, jim mk2 said:

Brilliant though he is on TV, Souness is wasted as a pundit. He's only 68, younger than Hodgson and Ranieri, who are still managing, and still has so much to offer the game.

Who wouldn't have him back at Rovers now? A few pearls of wisdom and he'd have this team back in the promotion race

i can certainly the false nine **** would be ditched and so would gallagher after the first game🙂

[Upside Down]

16 minutes ago, simongarnerisgod said:

i can certainly the false nine **** would be ditched and so would gallagher after the first game🙂

We certainly wouldn't be getting accused of being soft either.

[Nuttall is lost]

I like him as a pundit and did a good job with Blackburn but he wasn't a good manager if you look at his career.  Rangers and Blackburn his only successes.

He is on record saying he dislikes the modern player and cant be arsed dealing with their shite.  He's old skool like Keane.  Little patience for players poncing about adn being a social media muppet.

[AllRoverAsia]

19 minutes ago, Nuttall is lost said:

I like him as a pundit and did a good job with Blackburn but he wasn't a good manager if you look at his career.  Rangers and Blackburn his only successes.

He is on record saying he dislikes the modern player and cant be arsed dealing with their shite.  He's old skool like Keane.  Little patience for players poncing about adn being a social media muppet.

Souness has many other positives too.

A great ROVERS manager.

[tomphil]

He did ok at Southampton and Benfica both clubs had off field issues going on and i think he was seen as more of a troubleshooter at that point.

Gets tarred with the stint at Liverpool and admits he made mistakes but they were a team going through a transition themselves. He still won the FA cup there. He was far from a bad manager but he was never going to be a stability plod along type it was all or nothing my way of the highway with Mr Souness.

No wonder he can't be bothered with some of the characterless pampered shite these days.

Edited March 14, 2022 by tomphil

[A Northern Horde...]

Won trophies at Galatasaray too and planted a flag in the middle of their rivals Fenerbahce pitch...the man's a legend!

Rovers were in a good place under his tenure.Solid good memories  of success and pride in the Shirt.

 

Edited March 15, 2022 by A Northern Horde...

[LeftWinger]

I wasn't particularly excited when we appointed him.

How wrong I was! Probably my favourite time to be a Rovers fan was when Souness was in charge (I was only 11 in 1995).

Promotion in his first full season, 10th and the league cup in the first season back in the Premier League and then 6th the season after.

Some of the football we played was excellent. Jansen, Duff and Dunn blossomed and we had a great team spirit. He also signed Friedel and Tugay.

As mentioned above, when he was on the TV in the concourse after the game, you'd stop and listen.

As also mentioned, he did lose it somewhat towards the end. Still have nightmares about the formation played against WBA in that first game of the season - I've never seen so many left sided players in one team.

All in all, great memories!