Off Script: Souness' Old Firm memories
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What are Graeme Souness' first impressions of the new stadium?
Hello everyone, thanks for joining us for the latest Offscript, where Graeme Souness has been good enough to join us. And Graeme, this is the first Super Sunday in this stadium, and I think the first time you've been here. What do you make of it?
Spectacular. I would go as far to say it's the best football stadium I've ever been in.
Anywhere?
Anywhere, yeah. OK, it's the newest, latest. I've not seen it with anyone in here, so I'm not sure what atmosphere will be created. That depends on how the home team are playing, of course. But I think... First thoughts, yes, sensational.
I've wanted to ask you this for a while. In a TV studio, for those of us who don't go into one, which includes me, what is it like?
In terms of?
Just the atmosphere, particularly when it's maybe a big moment, like a big manager's under pressure and maybe it gets that little bit adversarial. I just wonder how you're thinking and feeling.
Yeah, I mean, obviously the bigger the games, the more I think we all get excited about them. Tension like when you played or not? No, no. But there's always a backstory, isn't there? You're turning up with thoughts about how it might go, who's going to be under pressure, who's going to be the star of the show. So you're turning up with some thoughts going on in your head, but very rarely turns out the way you anticipate. I think we do a great job. I think the way we deal with the big moments, I think we do that better than anybody else. We've got some very talented young men and ladies working our business now. And I like to think we've got on a fantastic show most of the time. But the game gees us up.
If it's a really good game and there's lots to talk about, it makes our job very easy.
So how much with you, say it is a big moment, how much is it you've thought about what you might say? Or do you think you're at your best when the story just takes you over?
Oh, without a doubt, yeah. Everything's off the cuff. My preparation for the games, the way I see my job, I could trot out all sorts of stats, but I think the viewers sitting at home could do that as well. You could Google how many goals he's scored in the last three seasons, how many goals he's scored about this team he's playing against today in the last few seasons. You can get most of the info online. on the internet, and I think what our job is to point out something to the viewers that maybe they're not seeing that's happening in the game, or a reason for something happening in the game that they wouldn't have thought of. So in terms of preparation, of course you have to know the players involved, you have to know the...
How does the atmosphere in a TV studio compare to being on the pitch?
the sort of form coming into the games. But I think in the 90 minutes, a lot of it is what I see.
So the latest instalment of the Old Firm derby almost upon us. Just tell us about your first introduction to that game.
Well, fortunately, when I was up there, I was there five years and we were bossing it for four years. And Celtic won it the one year with Billy McNeill in charge. You know, I got criticised, greatly criticised, for saying, well, I don't care if we lose to Celtic up as long as we win the league. That did not go down well. And did you view change on that? Oh, yeah. After the first ten minutes of the very first Old Firm game. But my thinking was, as long as we end up winning the league, as long as we get our hands on the cup at the end of it, I don't mind taking a few blows along the way. But then you do get it. These games are so much. And it generally leads to you winning the league if you win these. and it's not just the points that you get on the day for winning it.
What I found was you could be playing the best football, But you're second in the league because you've drawn a daft game. You might have had someone sent off. A lot of the time it was me getting sent off. For whatever reason, you didn't win that game, so you're going into an old firm game and you're second. And all the pressure's on you, although you might have been playing the best football out of the two teams. It's all about winning these games, staying top, because if you're top, the pressure is off you.
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