Graeme Souness admits he could have become Rangers' director of football - and it's an opportunity he should have taken.
The Ibrox favourite is now in the punditry game and has been out of management since leaving Newcastle in 2006. It was at Rangers though he started to learn his touchline trade after ending his playing career in Govan, managing for five years before leaving in 1991 and passing on to the late Walter Smith.
By the time that fifth year had come around though, it began to take its toll, and he took the chance of becoming Liverpool boss. In hindsight though, speaking to Sky Sports, the 69-year-old reckons a DOF opportunity on offer from David Murray is one that should have been grasped. Souness explained: "Those early years at Rangers were super times for me, my favourite memories in management, but by my fifth season it was becoming too much.
"It was just intense. I was appearing on the back pages of the newspapers and also the front pages, even though I had already separated from my first wife. I was getting followed around to restaurants in Edinburgh and I know that I was also followed along the M8 motorway. On several occasions, I even had a helicopter appear above my house, which was quite hidden away and private.
"It became too much for me and, without realising it, it also impacted my health. Within about a year of leaving Rangers, I was having open-heart surgery. With hindsight, what I should have done at that time was take a step back from the job, enjoy the fruits of my labour, and maybe become Rangers’ director of football or something along those lines. I know David Murray, the chairman, would have been more than happy for me to do that.
"But instead, I took the only job that I would have considered leaving Rangers for, which was the Liverpool one. I should have realised that I would have been offered that job further down the line. I believe it was the right job, but the wrong time for me to take it. Remember, I was still only 38. I should have sat back and enjoyed the success at Rangers for a little while, but I didn’t do that and I regret it.
"Having said that, I felt totally confident leaving Walter Smith, my assistant at Rangers, to take over. I’d had great help from him throughout my time there and I was delighted that he was able to build on our success when I left because he was an out-an-out Rangers man. It’s nice to think of the club going on to make it nine titles in a row, predominantly with players who were there when I left. I’d done my job and I feel I’d left the foundations for a very strong team indeed. I will always look back on that period with immense fondness."
