Take out the first and last letter from Rangers and you’ve got anger. Graeme Souness doesn’t see enough of that in his former club and it’s making his blood boil.
The Scot made his reputation as the fiercest of competitors but he hated every minute of what he saw last time out in the Champions League as one side he used to manage capitulated to another former club Liverpool. On Wednesday night, in the cauldron of Naples, he wants to see those same Light Blues players who went into their shell as the Scousers slammed seven past them to feel as angry as he did sitting in the Ibrox stand watching them a fortnight ago.
In fact, the former Gers player-manager reckons they are going to have to if manager Gio van Bronckhorst is to have any chance of relieving some of the pressure that is building from a disgruntled fanbase which reacted with fury to Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Livingston.
Souness is well aware another hammering against Napoli would put the Dutchman’s jacket on a very shoogly peg and he believes it is time that the players he sends out tomorrow night have to re-find their self respect – and help their gaffer keep his job.
He said: “I know you can’t go around today knocking people over and going through people, but I want to see more. Against Liverpool, I saw a group of players who didn’t really believe. If you’re a Rangers player you have to be up for the cup.
“I witnessed that game live and in the first half they were doing okay but the minute Liverpool scored it was like they were just happy to be on the same pitch as some of the Liverpool players. I didn’t see them getting angry with each other. I didn’t see them getting angry with the opposition and you’re not a Rangers player if you’ve got no anger.”
Having walked in GVB’s shoes from 1986 until leaving for Anfield in 1991, Souness was loathe to stick the boot into the boss. But he is adamant that there has to be a massive shift in the attitude on and off the pitch, with the Champions League already a train wreck and the league campaign threatening to come off the rails with it.
He added: “If you manage Glasgow Rangers, it is a very hard job. It must be the same if you are the Celtic manager. If you are playing second fiddle to the other side of the Old Firm, it is a very difficult job.
“I was there for five years and fortunately for me, only once were we second to Celtic, so I got a good run at it. Celtic have been the dominant team for a long time. I know we, Rangers, broke the sequence in stopping 10 in a row, but they’ve not really kicked on from there.
“You look at the last couple of games against Celtic at Parkhead. There are no surprises when you go to Parkhead.
“You know you are facing a fire from the first minute and you’ve got to match that. The last two games they’ve gone there, they’ve not done that and the game has been over at half time. I think that’s something you must learn from and last time out they hadn’t learned from it.
“Van Bronckhorst is under real pressure. The club is under pressure. They brilliantly qualified for the Champions League, but they are playing against teams with far larger budgets than them. They weren’t expected to be anywhere near the top of that group when they’ve got Liverpool and Napoli – and Napoli are the form team in Europe.
“But the pressure is on. I hate talking about managers being under pressure because I’ve been there myself and know how difficult a time it can be. When you are involved with Rangers, you never play any easy games. Every game is a cup final because the team you’re playing against wants to go to war with you.
“Gio knows all this but I’m not seeing the same back from his team. I played for Rangers and when you do that, you’re playing against two types of people in Scotland: Celtic supporters who don’t like you very much and want to go to war with you or Rangers fans who want to be at the club, so they are trying their socks off.
“I don’t know if the players believe in him. You’d have to ask them that.”
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