Ahead of today's Old Firm derby in the Scottish Cup Semi-final this afternoon, former Rangers manager Graeme Souness has been recalling the thirtieth anniversary of his appointment at Ibrox.
Souness ascended to the top job in 1986 as player-manager, at the age of just 32. He took over a side that had not won the league in nine years and ended his first season with a league and league cup double. In all, Souness won three league titles before leaving to take over at Liverpool in 1991. It was a highly successful period, with a number of circumstances combining in Souness' and Rangers' favour.
Critical in this success was the recruitment of players from England, notably Terry Butcher, signed from Ipswich.
Rangers could offer the lure of European football while English clubs were still banned following the Heysel stadium disaster, so the lure of European competition subsequently tempted Ray Wilkins, Trevor Francis and Gary Stevens to join the club.
Along with this favourable position for Rangers, Souness writes in today's Sunday Times that it was the signing of Catholic Mo Johnston from Nantes as one of the critical factors in kickstarting this period of success:
When I was appointed as Rangers manager, on April 8, 1986, I was asked if I would sign a Catholic. I said: “Of course.” All the journalists raised their eyes to the sky like they had heard it all before, but I meant it. My wife at the time was a Catholic, my kids were christened Catholic, so it was not an issue for me and I proved it by signing Mo Johnston from Nantes in 1989 when Celtic thought he was about to join them. I’d previously tried to sign Ray Houghton and John Collins, without success.
It was ridiculous. Given that Glasgow is split 50-50, you were limiting yourself to picking from 50% of the kids who were out there. David Murray, the owner at the time, took 30 seconds to get it. Walter and I drove to his office in Edinburgh. David puffed his cheeks out, there was an expletive and then: “Yeah, let’s do it”.
Signing Johnston demoralised Celtic. He’d come back from Nantes for a few days in Glasgow, there was a photograph taken with Billy McNeill, Celtic’s manager, and he was going to sign for them. It damaged them.
It took away one of the best Scottish players, but the psychological damage lasted for years, as Rangers won nine consecutive titles.
Souness also believes that this allowed Rangers grow as a club, and the signing of Johnston was followed by the signing of Mark Walters, a black footballer, and Avi Cohen, who was Jewish.
In a revealing column, Souness also reveals that he almost became Manchester United manager in 1989, going to bed following a meeting with Michael Knighton - who had planned a takeover at United - believing he was about to take over, only for Rangers chairman David Murray to change his mind. Souness subsequently went to Liverpool and things fell apart at Anfield, as Alex Ferguson left a bloodied Liverbird squawking for their perch.
Read the full column here.
[Sunday Times]
