When I was 19 I was just the same

A conversation with Graeme Souness

In the Olympic Stadium in Rome on 30 May 1984, the Liverpool captain lifts the Reds’ fourth European Cup. It is the most recent success of an impressive season: the league championship, the League Cup, and now a European trophy. All this in Joe Fagan’s first season as manager, after succeeding the legendary Bob Paisley the previous summer.

Roma were the favourites, in all respects. They could call on players like Bruno Conti, Paulo Roberto Falcao, Ciccio Graziani, Roberto Pruzzo and a young Carlo Ancelotti; the game was at their home ground, so the crowd would be on their side; and they had already shown, in their title-winning season the previous year, that they could play effectively and win with flying colours. Their coach Liedholm had them playing a well-implemented zonal defence system.

Still, in spite of the predictions, the score was 1–1 at the end of the 90 minutes (Phil Neal scored for Liverpool, Pruzzo equalised for Roma), and extra time came and went without any further scoring. Finally, the Red-and-Yellows lost on penalties (4–2), bowing to the perseverance of the team from England. Graeme Souness, wearing number 11, put his penalty away, Liverpool’s third, sending it into the top corner of the net, to the left of Roma keeper Franco Tancredi. Bruce Grobbelaar, the South African, ingeniously came up with his legendary ‘spaghetti legs’ and made poor Graziani lose his nerve, firing his penalty over the bar and into the terraces. The European Cup is Liverpool’s.

Souness, the captain of the Merseyside team, has played his last match in a red shirt. Eleven days later, the moustached Scotsman, the midfielder with class and determination to spare, lands at Genova airport, where 2,000 Blucerchiati supporters are expecting him. In Via XX Settembre, he first meets Trevor Francis, then president Mantovani, and the deal is in the bag. For £650,000, the Scotsman joins Sampdoria. He will take Liam Brady’s place in the team, the Irishman having moved to Inter Milan. Souness will stay in Genova for two seasons, 1984/85 and 1985/86, before returning to Rangers as player-manager, taking with him a strong knowledge of Italian football.

Twenty-six years on, Souness is 59 and a commentator for Sky Sports. He has a game of golf to attend shortly, but he finds the time to talk about the former teammate he now watches in the Manchester City dugout, from his vantage point in the press box.

Why did you come to Sampdoria?

‘They bought me because I was an experienced player. At that time, I was 31. Sampdoria was a team of young boys … if you look at Vialli, Mancini, Mannini, they were basically young players and the president needed someone who could bring experience to the team.’

How do you remember Roberto Mancini from that time?

‘Extremely talented. He didn’t want to listen to much advice, and that could be a little frustrating at times. He thought he knew all the answers, which is quite normal at that age. I was the same – in fact, all 19-year-olds are like that. Obviously he was exceptionally talented and he knew that he was going to be a star in Italian football.’

In what way did you contribute to making this team, and Mancini, grow?

‘Well, you would have to ask that question to somebody else … I think there would be no doubt that they needed some experience in that team. There was me, there was Bordon, there was Trevor Francis, and Scanziani the captain, we were the oldest in the team … I was the most experienced, coming into a very young team, and obviously you have something different to offer. I saw that as part of my role and I did help looking after the younger ones. I believe that my style of play helped to do that anyway, I was reasonably aggressive at football.’

You scored against AC Milan in the first leg of the Coppa Italia final, and you helped the team to win their first title in years and years. How was it?

‘A good goal in San Siro, and an incredible fiesta in Marassi. For me, the whole experience – my two years in Italy, working with the people there, especially with a top coach like Bersellini, and all the young guys – was a real pleasure. The city I lived in was fantastic, the supporters were great. It was a fantastic experience for me and my family.’

You describe Bersellini as a top coach, but between him and Mancini the relationship was not so good

‘Yeah … all sorts of 19-year-olds, myself included, don’t like being told off, or being told to do things that we don’t agree with. I’m surprised that Roberto Mancini has developed into such a mature, intelligent, footballing man. I look at him now on English television and he handles the press really, really well. He’s always calm, always collected. He’s got a real charming influence, when you see him interviewed on television. Obviously, over the years, with all the different people he’s worked with, and the success he had as a player, he’s learnt and he’s done a lot. Still, I’m quite surprised he’s turned out the way he has, because he’s a very impressive football person now.’

Let’s talk about Mancini today and his successful story with City.

‘Well, that’s a big surprise for me because managing Manchester City is a very, very difficult job.’

Why?

‘I think coaching today is hard, because of the players, the money they earn and the independence it has given them. Not all, but a large percentage of them don’t have a very good attitude to being told something – because they think that they have all the answers and people should listen to them rather than them listening to people. I think that if you look at the situation at Manchester City, they had to deal with Craig Bellamy, they had to deal with Tevez, they had to deal with Balotelli … if you had one of those in your club, it would make your job as a coach very difficult indeed. Mancini has had four very, very tricky individuals. Adebayor may come back [following loan spells at Real Madrid and Tottenham Hotspur], because he’s still a Manchester City player, so Roberto may have to work with him again … Bellamy is gone and I’m not sure if Tevez will be there next year, but I think Mancini handled the situation with him very well. That was a nightmare scenario, and I felt that he handled it brilliantly. He was super.’

In what way do you think Mancini has adapted to the mentality, the media and the reality of English football?

‘The Manchester City dressing-room is not full of English people, they have people from all over Europe like all the big clubs today, so that’s not such a big problem. I think if you are a football person you quickly understand what’s needed, and what you have to do to be successful, and Mancini understood the challenge ahead of him very quickly. He’s had some good advice … and so it’s not been that difficult for him.’

What about his style of play?

‘I think a coach’s job is to get the best out of his group of players, and his style of play for me is a winning style, I think last year they scored the most goals in the league and conceded the fewest. For me there were no problems. I know that there was some criticism that maybe he was coming with an Italian mindset, being a little too defensive. I couldn’t agree with that; I think he was working with the group of players he had and he was getting the most from those players, and he turned out to be very successful. So there’s no criticism, he’s done very well.’

But all along, throughout the year, the press has been speculating about all the managers who could take his place.

‘This is normal. You lose a game and if you’re a big manager they want to replace you. It’s the usual bullshit. I think he has the confidence [to deal with that kind of speculation]; if he didn’t before, he certainly has now.’

What do you think about the war of words with Manchester United and with Sir Alex Ferguson in particular?

‘I think they make more of it than it is – it sells newspapers. They are two professionals, two top professional coaches. It’s like a little game and I don’t attach much importance to that.’

And the Premier League win, in injury time, what was your take on that?

‘I was in the stadium working for Sky. It was the most dramatic end to any season I have ever known. When you think it was the final game, and in the last kick of the ball you win the league … it’s a script. It’s just theatre.’

And now Mancini is a hero at Manchester City?

‘If you’re a Manchester City supporter, you’re the happiest among any English supporters, and you love Roberto Mancini.’

How do you see the future for Man City?

‘As long as the people in Abu Dhabi have a real desire to be successful, Man City will be one of the world’s biggest football clubs. I see success for them. Big things are ahead for Man City. Because they have the finances to do it, and now having won the FA Cup and the Premier League gives the manager great strength in the dressing-room.’