IT HAS been obvious since the departure of Kenny Dalglish a couple of
years ago that all was not well within Anfield, that theatre of
footballing delights and dreams.
Initially, the decline of Liverpool was not obvious, but these days,
signs that the empire is crumbling no longer can be disguised, and the
most revealing clue of all is the absence of fear among opposing teams
when they arrive.
Suddenly Liverpool are vulnerable.
Inevitably, manager Graeme Souness is shouldering the bulk of the
blame and voices were heard against him after Saturday's latest
embarrassment, a 4-1 defeat by Blackburn Rovers, now led by Dalglish,
who is still revered on Merseyside. The same cannot be said of Souness.
People, including hacks he has crossed, move in sensing a kill. Few
have offered him a kind word or a shoulder. Those he damaged and
verbally abused or dismissed from his presence with that infuriating,
nonchalant flick of a wrist, are perfecting their sneers as his career
appears to move to the verge of collapse.
Souness's brusque manner, his arrogance, and perhaps even his
willingness to believe the hard-man image created by the media, have
left him with few friends in the football community. He will find hardly
a door open to him in these, his days of need.
Of course, taking into consideration the money he earned as a player
with Liverpool and Sampdoria, and then manager of Rangers, and now
Liverpool, he does not need sympathy, but strangely enough his bank
account will be of little consolation to him just now. He has
accumulated enough wealth to walk away and live in peace for the rest of
his existence, but he cannot do that while his talent is being doubted.
There have been times when his reasoning appeared flawed -- his
dealing with the Sun newspaper, taboo among Liverpool's supporters after
the tabloid's coverage of the Hillsborough disaster, didn't present an
image of someone in tune with his followers -- and although he managed
to survive the effects of what we might be justified in calling peculiar
logic, it remains to be seen if he can overcome the current problems at
Anfield.
Until now, Souness has never really been tested or doubted. Lauded as
a player, and held in awe as manager of Rangers, he considered himself
destined for greater things. When Liverpool called, he could not resist.
Perhaps they offered him a passport back into Europe as one of the
Continent's high-profile managers.
That may have been part of the reasoning behind his decision to leave
Ibrox, but it seems now to have been an unwise career move, and he finds
himself a man alone on the brink of the unthinkable. Failure is surely
only a few more defeats away.
If he and his team are to survive, Souness faces a massive task in
trying to restore the pride and passion which have epitomised Liverpool
since the day Bill Shankly took over and transformed the club into
something to be feared and admired in equal measure. If the degree of
ill-will towards Souness counted for anything, he would fail miserably
and the rejoicing would be widespread.
However, there will be no cheering in this column should he buckle
under pressure. Despite his foibles, is there not something to be
respected in this person?
It is not necessary to like someone before those characteristics which
set him apart from the pack can be appreciated. Indeed, Souness can be
put into sport's rogues gallery along with the likes of John McEnroe,
who for years was the bete noir of tennis and, in fact, makes the
Liverpool manager look something of a novice when it comes to provoking
anger and dislike among the masses and authorities.
Souness loitered in tunnels, but McEnroe scorned the establishment on
centre courts around the globe. However, the one thing both have is a
desire to win which borders on desperation. They have an inbred fear of
second place.
This is one of the reasons I hope Souness emerges from his current
crisis and proves his worth as a manager. Apart from the fact that he is
a Scot working in England -- it does not do anything for the rest of us
when one of our kind fails down there -- there is always something
terribly sad about the sight of a born winner being brought to his
knees.
All sportsmen say they won't have to be told when it's closing time,
but it rarely works that way. Few get out when it suits them and sport
is littered with once-great performers' memories.
Souness, of course, is far from that stage and will require all of his
intelligence and determination to extricate himself from his current
plight. It will be interesting in the coming weeks, provided he is given
them, to watch how he copes, but he should not be willing to pay any
price to prove himself.
Souness has undergone major heart surgery, and contrary to what one of
his Anfield predecessors said, football is not more important than life
and death. It is a game, something to be enjoyed. It isn't worth dying
for.
It would be dreadful irony indeed if Souness's powerful desire to be a
winner were to reduce his prospects in the greatest contest of all, that
for life itself. I hope he and Liverpool survive.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article