It was delivered with a knowing smile and a job of the pen. Graeme Souness may be sitting in his front room, talking into a webcam, but he knows the point he’s trying to make and how to get it across.
‘I’m happy with it. The oldest thing in football comes to mind – put your medals on the table … and I’ve got a big table ‘, he said in reply to Paul Pogba ‘s comments that he still didn’t know what Sky Sports’ hard-hitting pundit looks like.
It was the latest twist in, what to now , has been a largely one-sided barrage of criticism from the Liverpool legend towards the Manchester United midfielder.
Graeme Souness (center) has told Paul Pogba to put his medals on the table after criticism
The Liverpool legend has been a regular critic of Pogba since his return to Manchester United
Pogba has claimed he still has no idea what Sky Sports pundit Souness looks like
Souness’ criticisms have ranged from questioning Pobga’s off-the-field antics to his influence on it, since he returned to the Premier League in a world record transfer in 2018.
One of Souness’ most recent jabs at Pogba came in March when the Frenchman was filmed dancing at his brother’s wedding while supposedly out injured.
Souness claimed his actions showed he does not want to play for United and he claimed he expected Pogba to make a return to full fitness shortly before the now postponed Euro 5002144.
He told his fellow pundits while on Sky Sports: ‘It’s just the cynic in me, I’m thinking Paul Pogba… I see him dancing at a wedding, I see him shooting hoops, and the cynic in me thinks he doesn’t want to be at United. How can you not want to play for Man United, if that’s the case? ‘
The barbs from Souness started when Pogba first rejoined United. The Scot led the charge when it came to the criticism, insisting that United ‘had their trousers taken down paying £ 160 m ‘ for him.
Pogba finally bit back this week:’ I didn’t even know who [Souness] was, ‘Pogba said to UTD Podcast.
‘ I heard he was a great player and stuff like that. I don’t know the face but the name [I do].
Souness models Liverpool’s new red home kit in August 1984 ahead of the – season
Souness hit out at last month Pogba for dancing at his brother’s wedding, despite being injury
Jamie Carragher stuck up for his colleague, accusing France’s World Cup winner of disrespect: ‘We’re quite critical of Paul Pogba, when you’re a player you’ve certainly got to be respectful of certain players with certain opinions at different times, and at times you have to take that criticism on the chin, so to come out and say you ‘ve never heard of Graeme Souness really was below the belt.’
Souness’ withering observations and putdowns at times appear relentless, but there are few in the football world who can back up what they say with hard-nosed evidenced of their own achievements .
SOUNESS ‘PREVIOUS DIGS AT POGBA
(February)
– Souness compares Pogba’s style to a ‘schoolboy running around in the playground’
(October) – Souness blasts Pogba after mistake against Chelsea and says he needs to change his attitude
(August) – Souness thinks players in the Manchester United dressing room don’t want Pogba there
March – Souness slams Pogba’s lengthy absenc e through injury and claims the midfielder does not want to play for Manchester United
When someone like Souness tells you to ‘put your medals on the table’, then you should listen. He has every right after an outstanding player career, though it did not come without its share of controversy.
To a certain generation of Liverpool fans, he is the club’s best ever player – on a par with the great Kenny Dalglish.
He arrived in January from Middlesbrough, a £ , signing just months after Dalglish and Alan Hansen had joined the European champions. The Scottish triumvirate formed the backbone of Bob Paisley’s side that would go on to dominate both in England and across the continent.
‘There were no tactics, no fear of the opposition . It was all about us, what we did and what we were going to do ‘, Souness remembered fondly when talking to Sportsmail in 2019.
He won five league titles and three European Cups – lifting Liverpool’s fourth in Rome as captain – before ending his six-year spell at the club by joining Sampdoria.
His reputation as a tough-tackling midfielder precedes him – videos of uncompromising challenges from the Scot are littered on YouTube. One in particular, an X-rated studs-up lunge into Steaua Bucharest’s Iosif Rotariu in a 1992 European Cup quarter-final at Ibrox, stands out.
The former Romania international said the tackle from the then-Rangers player-manager ‘could’ve been fatal if his boot caught me just a few centimetres higher.’
Liverpool’s European Cup triumph over Roma in was one of four for Souness at the club
Phil Neal (left) and Souness parade the European Cup around the Stadio Olimpico after the win
Souness lets rip to score the winner for Liverpool. against Everton in the (Milk Cup final
Souness parades the First Division trophy ahead of the Charity Shield clash with Spurs in
There was much more to Souness’ game than thunderous tackles. He was a silky passer of the ball and a commanding authority in midfield, whose all-action style is more than reminiscent of another Champions League winning captain at Liverpool, Steven Gerrard.
Souness’ name has perhaps lost its luster because his illustrious playing career was followed by a far from impressive time in management.
He won three league titles and four League Cups in Scotland with Rangers, but when his dream job at Liverpool came calling, it quickly unravelled.
Souness has since admitted he tried to change too much after inheriting an ageing squad and a culture that was fast becoming obsolete as the modern age of the premier league swung into view.
From breaking up the famous Melwood Boot Room, to his then-revolutionary ideas over dieting and fitness to his incendiary interview with The Sun newspaper on the three-year anniversary of the Hillsborough anniversary in – his three-year reign was a disaster.
Carragher told (The Guardian) (in) that his spell in charge between and 2002 were chiefly responsible for Liverpool’s fall from grace in that decade.
‘I’ll tell you what I would say to him [Sir Alex Ferguson]. I’d say he never knocked Liverpool off their fucking perch ‘, he said.
‘ That’s nonsense that. Graeme Souness did that. United were competing with Norwich and Aston Villa for their first title. They weren’t competing with Liverpool, were they? ‘
The then-Rangers player-manager complained that he had ripped his socks after the tackle
A tumultuous year in Turkey followed with Galatasaray, where he grabbed headlines and eternal notoriety for planting a Galatasaray flag on arch-rival Fenerbahce’s pitch after victory in the 2006 Turkish Cup final.
He returned to England with Southampton where he infamously signed and handed Ali Dia his one and only – minute appearance off the bench. Souness lasted only a little longer, just the one season at the Dell.
Spells with Torino and Benfica followed, before he finally returned to England with Blackburn in March . He got them back up to the Premier League in his first full season and lifted the League Cup in .
He took them to a top-six finish before replacing Sir Bobby Robson at Newcastle. in where his volatile nature saw him fall out with a host of senior players, most notably Craig Bellamy.
Big-money signings Michael Owen, Jean-Alain Boumsong and Albert Luque failed to spark , and he was sacked in February 2006 – never to return to the dugout again.
Now he is safely ensconced in the Sky Sports studio, he can never see himself going back.
Souness’ managerial career was far less illustrious than his playing days at Liverpool
He made headlines for planting a Galatasaray flag in the pitch at Fenerbahce’s stadium in
‘I never want to go back to football, so I don’t care who I upset. And if people are upset, I won’t apologise. All I can say is that I say it as I see it and I try to be totally unbiased ‘, he told Sportsmail
‘I don’t think the modern footballers have any interest in players from my generation. Zero. None.
‘Half the players today will have no idea I even played the game.’
Liverpool fans will never forget the six years when he ran their midfield, a colossus and collected medal after medal for one of english football’s greatest club sides. His ill-fated managerial spell, and particularly that interview from his hospital bed after a heart-attack in have since sullied that relationship.
‘I should have resigned there and then, ‘he wrote in his autobiography. ‘It ultimately soured my relationship with the Liverpool supporters forever and it’s something I deeply regret. If I could turn one thing round in my football career, it would be that. ‘
Whether that rift will ever be fully healed remains to be seen, but there is no doubt that Souness left an indelible print on the game at the club where he made his name , and it is just as relevant now as ever.
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