Graeme Souness’ journey back to Ibrox appears to be dead in the water after the former manager went onto TalkSport to effectively admit talks with the club stalled but he would still love the job.
Unfortunately in doing so he has also demonstrated yet again his unwillingness to back down and admit he got something wrong and has now inexplicably changed his story on his Frank Lampard comments from the past.
To bring you all up to speed, Souness previous waved the Lampard flag with gusto, and while admittedly also praising Clement, admitted his first choice had been firmly with Lampard.
On Talksport today, however, he cut a completely different tune:
“That’s not entirely true, no I didn’t say I was advocating for him (Lampard) I think it was a narrow thing the only advantage Frank had over the manager who’s got the job was he may understand the west of Scotland a wee bit more.”
But on October 26th he’d said:
“There were two outstanding candidates; Frank and Philippe. The final say wasn’t with me. For me, Frank had the edge because of this; Frank, I think, has still got a great deal to offer. Taking the Chelsea job when he did was always going to be very, very difficult. The Everton job is a basket case. And have they improved since Frank left? Not a bit. So, I wouldn’t be too critical of Frank. The thing that encouraged me about Frank is that he wanted to do it. He doesn’t need the money. He wants to be a successful manager. And he fancied the Rangers job.”
A complete about-turn from a man who looked like he knew the job was gone and he’d rather screwed it up. He couldn’t even bring himself to say Philippe Clement’s name initially, which was telling.
Indeed, we’re not sure the board is interested any more given the absolute drivel the chap has spouted since Clement got the job, and it’s very sad because we had immense respect for Souness and his opinion.
Unfortunately, on the latter, not so much any more. We will always respect the man for what he gave the club back in the day, but we do think the quality and wisdom of his opinions has gone radically south.
To change your story from being all in with Frank because of his desire to get the job, to claiming a chap from London knows all about the West of Scotland is quite the shift in logic.
We really cannot see Souness getting the job now.