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The National (Scotland)
The National (Scotland)
Sport
Aidan Smith

Graeme Souness opens up on Rangers return discussions as he admits 'disappointment'

Graeme Souness has opened up on his disappointment after talks broke down between him and Rangers over a sensational return to Ibrox.

The former Ibrox boss met with chief executive James Bisgrove on a number of occasions to discuss a possible return to the club in an ambassadorial role.

Ultimately discussions broke down with Souness declining an offer, and he admits there is a hint of sadness that the discussions did not work out.

Speaking to Ewen Cameron for the Big Scottish Football Podcast, he said: "Am I disappointed? I suppose I am.

"I still think I've got my marbles and at my age I still remember what you have to do to win football matches.

"I felt I had something to offer but maybe it wasn't seen as a road they wanted to go down from their point.

"I've not been part of Rangers for 30 years.

"I'm a little disappointed but I've got plenty going on in my life, like my charity work.

"Without going into any great detail, I had a couple of meetings with James Bisgrove but ultimately decided it [an ambassadorial role] wasn't for me.

"I'm a great believer you can never have enough football people around the place.

"I look at the likes - and the most recent example would be Todd Boehly at Chelsea - coming in and not having any football knowledge around him and they made loads of mistakes.

"Ed Woodward at Man Utd after Fergie left he was making all the big football calls and look how well they did with that.

"Look at Mohshiri at Everton, they had Ellis Short at Sunderland and Mel Morris at Derby, there is a whole litany of smart people going into football clubs and not getting it right.

"But I wish them all the best. This is my team.

"There was no clash. But yeah [we couldn't meet in the middle].

"It is my team and I will only ever wish them well.

"They're not a million miles behind Celtic, Celtic are obviously in the box seat because of their recent success and the belief they carry going into the new season.

"But we've got a new manager with new players, and hopefully win the first Old Firm game, put the pressure back on Celtic and see how they deal with it rather than us dealing with it.

"That is a big game coming up. You can put a marker down in the first one.

"My experience of the Scottish league is that you can be playing the best football, have the best players playing the best football, but you lose the first Old Firm game then all the pressure comes on you, because the team that is top plays with the greater freedom."

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