“I WAS n AIVE ABOUT WHAT RAn GERS WERE
ABOUT. THAT RELIGIOUS STUFF DIDn ’T MATTER
TO ME. WE CHAn GED THIn GS FOR THE BETTER”
of those who joined in the pranks with McCoist and Durrant described
them as “headbangers”.
As a manager trying to revolutionise a club in serious disrepair, it is
easy to understand why Souness, in his first managerial role, had little
time for headbangers, even if, like McCoist, they averaged a goal every
two games. Souey was concerned the striker “could have looked after
himself better, 100 per cent”, but added: “I pushed him but there was
no personality clash – I loved his company.”
The manager’s point is not lost on Durrant, who told the Daily Mail:
“Souness was hard on me, but he was fantastic for me too. I was on
the end of a few of his tirades and one right hook.” He wasn’t tempted
to retaliate because: “It was a tiff in training, and as I went down I
could see him lining up the second one. Luckily, someone stepped
in.” Souness later apologised.‘ ARROGAn CE IS BOTH A STREn GTH
A nD A WEAKn ESS’
Not all of the tensions in the squad could
be directly blamed on the manager. The
influx of English players – attracted by
the appeal of European football
when English clubs were banned
by UEFA after the Heysel disaster- irritated some Scots.
Creative midfielder Derek
Ferguson couldn’t abide what he
regarded as Trevor Francis’ pretensions.
When he found English football’s first
£1 million player reading an Italian newspaper, he persuaded Durrant
to stage a distraction so he could set fire to it. “Not the most sensible
of things to come up with,” Ferguson later admitted.
Lionhearted England centre-half Terry Butcher was a better cultural
fit at Ibrox. His pre-match team talk, invariably including the phrase
“We are caged tigers”, summed up the ethos Souness was trying to
instil. The message worked – under Butcher’s captaincy, Rangers won
three league titles in four seasons. Yet inevitably, the defender ended
up going eyeball-to-eyeball with his boss.
As broadcaster and writer Roddy Forsyth recalled: “Butcher had
an operation on his knee following the 1990 World Cup and felt he
had been asked to perform for Rangers before he had properly
regained fitness.” Disappointed by that attitude, Souness put the
centre-back up for sale, almost accepting an offer from Leeds before
realising he was a defender short for the Scottish League Cup final
against Celtic. Backtracking, he selected Butcher, but the recently
retired England international refused to play, saying he didn’t feel
part of the team.
Souness gave an angry press conference, and Butcher threatened
to respond in kind but kept his counsel. After being blamed for both
goals in a 2-1 loss to Dundee United, he joined Coventry in November
1990 for an ill-fated spell as player-manager.
It’s often forgotten that the Souness revolution did not just lead to
the signing of big names such as Francis, Butcher, Ray Wilkins, Chris
Woods and Trevor Steven. The foot soldiers in his revolutionary army
included Terry Hurlock (snapped up for £375,000 when Wimbledon
chairman Sam Hamman refused to sell Vinnie Jones), Mark Falco and
Graham Roberts. But many Rangers fans – and some players – insist
the best signing Souness made at Ibrox was his No.2. The manager
came close to conceding as much, saying: “Although his dress sense
was desperate, Walter was great. I was completely raw as a manager
and nothing had prepared me.”
In a letter to Smith’s biographer, Neil Drysdale, long-time Rangers
supporter Ewan Prentice wrote: “You never got the impression when
you listened to Souness that he was wasting too much time
studying videos or chalking up tactical formations on
blackboards. It was as if he was more
interested in the strut, leading with the
chin, than getting his hands dirty.”
Souness’ treatment of Butcher was a
watershed moment for Prentice and his
pals. “We started thinking, ‘Hang on,
everybody else can’t always be wrong in
these disputes’. That scepticism built
month by month, especially when we
heard that he wanted to get rid of Super
Images Ally. He was a bloody talisman for us.”
PA
74 The Managers FourFourTwo.comSOUn ESS