Just spotted a photo of the magnificent one on social media, and it is still fair to say that I have mixed feelings about his departure.
Negative is obviously him not telling Liverpool to bolt at such a crucial point in a season.
Positives?
1. Souness going from midfield to dugout marked the beginning of a concerning decline, and I feel that it was accelerating towards a breakneck speed. As a footballer, he was flawless, and as an individual, he's certainly an admirable one in many ways, but I've never rated Souness as a manager. Everything after Ibrox seems to back this up, and what followed Souness' playing days for us makes me feel that he was undoing the good work done by Smith. I can point to a lot of faults in Smith's first spell in charge, but he always seemed to be the far more capable one.
2. Murray acted brilliantly by getting rid, when he did. Almost everything Murray did was for his own personal gain or alarmingly incompetent. A positive from that man has to stand out.
3. The one that's debatable:
I'm sure that Aberdeen would've won that title had Souness not left.
First, you have Mo Johnston. He was done, basically, but he was still in that side while McCoist was benched. It was a personal vendetta.
Next one is connected to it. We hadn't handed out a drubbing to any rancid shower, home or away, since December. A lot of shut-outs, but we never had the look of a free-flowing side that could easily find the route to the back of the opposition net. Not a great watch by any means, but steady enough not to be alarmed.
Then the almost fatal collapse.
Starts at McDiarmid Park on 26/2/91. Alan Moore puts St Johnstone ahead, Pieter Huistra equalises, but we couldn't find a second. Gave Aberdeen a slight sniff, and us at home next in a must-win game, which they won 1-0. A very poor scum lot gubbed us back to back, then Hibs took a point off us.
We were rotten on the day when that Gary Stevens volley got us the points against Dunfermline. Ironically, Souness' last match would see a rare 3-0 win. That was St Johnstone at Ibrox.
After Smith took over, those 1-0 wins against St Mirren and Dundee United were down to a fighting spirit that hadn't really been on display for a while, and the same can be said of Aberdeen on that final day. We weren't appalling at Fir Park the week before, but we really were struggling to create. We lost a goal, then we got caught chasing the game.
The sheep went into the final day ahead of us on goals scored.
Had we still been plodding around aimlessly, as we were under Souness, it could've been 2 points, 2 goals, and goals scored. Easily.
I can't think of another time when someone has done us that big a favour by doing the dirty on us.
Anyone else of a similar opinion?
Negative is obviously him not telling Liverpool to bolt at such a crucial point in a season.
Positives?
1. Souness going from midfield to dugout marked the beginning of a concerning decline, and I feel that it was accelerating towards a breakneck speed. As a footballer, he was flawless, and as an individual, he's certainly an admirable one in many ways, but I've never rated Souness as a manager. Everything after Ibrox seems to back this up, and what followed Souness' playing days for us makes me feel that he was undoing the good work done by Smith. I can point to a lot of faults in Smith's first spell in charge, but he always seemed to be the far more capable one.
2. Murray acted brilliantly by getting rid, when he did. Almost everything Murray did was for his own personal gain or alarmingly incompetent. A positive from that man has to stand out.
3. The one that's debatable:
I'm sure that Aberdeen would've won that title had Souness not left.
First, you have Mo Johnston. He was done, basically, but he was still in that side while McCoist was benched. It was a personal vendetta.
Next one is connected to it. We hadn't handed out a drubbing to any rancid shower, home or away, since December. A lot of shut-outs, but we never had the look of a free-flowing side that could easily find the route to the back of the opposition net. Not a great watch by any means, but steady enough not to be alarmed.
Then the almost fatal collapse.
Starts at McDiarmid Park on 26/2/91. Alan Moore puts St Johnstone ahead, Pieter Huistra equalises, but we couldn't find a second. Gave Aberdeen a slight sniff, and us at home next in a must-win game, which they won 1-0. A very poor scum lot gubbed us back to back, then Hibs took a point off us.
We were rotten on the day when that Gary Stevens volley got us the points against Dunfermline. Ironically, Souness' last match would see a rare 3-0 win. That was St Johnstone at Ibrox.
After Smith took over, those 1-0 wins against St Mirren and Dundee United were down to a fighting spirit that hadn't really been on display for a while, and the same can be said of Aberdeen on that final day. We weren't appalling at Fir Park the week before, but we really were struggling to create. We lost a goal, then we got caught chasing the game.
The sheep went into the final day ahead of us on goals scored.
Had we still been plodding around aimlessly, as we were under Souness, it could've been 2 points, 2 goals, and goals scored. Easily.
I can't think of another time when someone has done us that big a favour by doing the dirty on us.
Anyone else of a similar opinion?