Graeme Souness isn’t exactly a popular figure on Tyneside following his turbulent time as Newcastle manager and then seemingly taking any given opportunity to criticise Newcastle when working as a pundit, but today we’ve found out that we he may actually have good reason to be bitter.
During an interview with Jim White on TalkSPORT, Souness admitted that Newcastle wasn’t a job he enjoyed and that experience is the reason he quit management.
“It wasn’t a job I enjoyed.”
👔 “The fact that I never worked again tells you how much that job put me off.”
Graeme Souness reflects on why #NUFC was his last job in football management. pic.twitter.com/iPDIQrGZbt
— talkSPORT (@talkSPORT) August 8, 2022
In an eye-opening reveal, we learned that Michael Owen was completely a boardroom decision and Souness was pretty much told to accept it, despite the fact that Souness had already agreed a deal in principal to bring Nicolas Anelka back to the Premier League. With the benefit of hindsight, it’s hard to think that Freddie Shepherd made the right decision here. Owen was a flop at Newcastle, eventually leaving to go to Manchester United after seemingly creating an “I’m Michael Owen, Look How Brilliant I Am” dossier that he sent to clubs in order to secure a move away from St James’ Park.
Do These Revelations Change Your Opinion Of Souness?
Nooope
Maybe a BIT
Meanwhile, Anelka went on to sign for Bolton and knocked goals in for fun for the Trotters.
It still baffles me why chairmen bring in managers only to overrule them on every decision. If you don’t trust them to make the right calls then why hire them in the first place? It’s good to see that those days look well and truly behind us now with full faith put in Eddie Howe, Dan Ashworth et al.
THINK YOU KNOW NEWCASTLE? WHO IS THIS FORMER MAGPIE?