Football: Souness unmoved at mock farewell

HALF THE capacity crowd at the Stadium of Light in Lisbon were waving white handkerchiefs the other week in mock farewell to Benfica's outgoing manager as a police escort led him away. Sacked for only the second time in his long and successful career, he not only has to see the season out first before departing, but has already met his successor. And no, he is not walking straight back into employment in Britain.

So how is Graeme Souness faring these days? Strangely, as he returns from a walk with his pregnant wife, Karen, and his beloved dogs in the grounds that surround his beautiful Hampshire home near Winchester, the man is smiling. "I've had many of my football friends contacting me to express their sorrow at my sacking," he says, as he settles down in the living room.

"I have to tell them that I'm happy. I'm coming home to my wife, who is expecting in August, I've got a brand new lawnmower that I intend to use very shortly, I'm going to enjoy living in a house I've had for three years but barely slept in, and, most important of all, I'm going to see much more of my family. On a professional note I have a nice feeling about myself. Only I understand the true difficulties of the Benfica job and I know, under the circumstances, that I did bloody well. So no, it's not bravado. I'm truly a very happy man."

He seems it, as well. In truth, he's been half expecting the chop for much of his 18-month spell in Lisbon, a period which makes him the longest- serving coach at the club for six years. "I was promised $50 million [pounds 31m] to spend on constructing a squad capable of becoming champions again, and a force in Europe," the 45-year-old former Rangers, Liverpool, Galatasaray, Torino and Southampton manager, explains. "I've actually spent $500,000. Any other buys came from money generated by ourselves.

"Within three months I realised it was going to be very, very tough. Benfica have the most demanding group of fans I've ever come across, far, far more than at Rangers or Liverpool. They think Benfica have a God-given right to be the best in Europe. But the club's been mismanaged for years now. They haven't won a league title for five years which, for a club supported by 60 per cent of the Portuguese population, is considered unforgiveable. And they're still in the region of pounds 40 million in debt."

Despite all this, Souness, together with his trusty lieutenant, Phil Boersma, hauled Benfica up from sixth to the runners-up spot in the league last season behind Porto and a place in the Champions League. It should have been time to celebrate, but Souness understood what this achievement meant.

"Coming second gave me a little leeway, but it wasn't regarded as a great feat. I knew that there would be only one outcome this season if we failed to win the championship. I'm a big boy, I've been in the game now a long, long time and once I had come to terms with the way it is in a Latin country where there is just one giant club I was able to accept anything and everything."

The axe fell officially after Benfica went down 2-1 to lowly Braga last week, but Souness knew his time was up after his team of Portugese and cheap British imports fell 0-3 at home to joint second-placed Boavista. "It was a bad result, of course, although the scoreline wasn't a fair reflection on the game. It was played in front of 80,000 people. In our next home game 15,000 turned up. It's the nature of the beast, I'm afraid.

"The president asked me to come over for lunch, but I knew what he was going to say. You see, from the start of the season my job was hanging on two bad results. I've since found out that other coaches were being contacted about the job after the Boavista defeat."

Was he aware of the handkerchief send-off? Souness smiles wryly. "Well, when there's an 80,000 crowd, and over half of them are waving them at you, there's a decent chance it won't escape your notice," he replies. "It didn't bother me in the slightest. I've had 100,000 Romanians baying for my blood in Bucharest before, so this was nothing. But it unsettled some of my younger players and, when you bear in mind it happened after 10 minutes when we were just a goal down, that was pretty unhelpful."

Souness has analysed his term of office in Lisbon but is unable to find too many faults. "Any trainer's job is to get the best he can out of the group of players he has, and in that department I don't think anyone else could have got more out of them than me. I'm super-critical about myself, but I'm leaving the club in a far better position than when I started. I don't care who they are, I defy anyone to have done better under the circumstances made available to me."

Absurdly, Souness has to see out the season. He insists, like a true professional, that he will try his hardest to raise Benfica back up to second place and into the Champions' League, but even he accepts the situation has become strange. "It's a bit bizarre, isn't it? Once the decision's made, you want to get out and get on."

Perhaps more bizarrely, he spent last Saturday night in the company of Jupp Heynckes, the man who will be replacing him at Benfica. Heynckes knows a little about Souness' current experiences. Last year the former German international player was told he was on his way out of Real Madrid shortly before he won the European Cup. Still, it was an awkward moment. "I got the feeling he was a little uncomfortable," Souness admits. "I could quite see the funny side of it. Anything goes in a Latin country, and I wished him good luck for his future." Sounds like Heynckes is going to need it.

As for Souness, he's in no hurry to throw himself back into the game that has been his life for much of his 45 years. He's already received one offer. "It's an interesting one where I would be involved both in managing and investing, but it's not what I'm looking for right now," he admits. "I'm going to learn from my mistakes." In what way? "Well, when I left Southampton I took the first offer that came along, without taking in any background research. It didn't work out." By this he means he became manager of Torino, was presented with a team by the owners, and was sacked after six games. This followed an unhappy spell at The Dell. "The next job has to be the right one, with people who want to go forward and achieve. I thought this was the case at Southampton, but I was told a tale. Nope, I'm in no hurry whatsoever. I'm going to enjoy the summer."

We take a stroll beside the stretch of the River Itchin that he actually owns and watch as the brown trout flit their way through the waters. Does he regret his 18 months in Portugal? "No, not at all," he insists. "The Portuguese are lovely people, but they take their nice, friendly heads off and leave them at home when they go to a match. You never stop learning in this game, and I believe I'm a better coach now than I was when I started in Lisbon. Football is a fickle game in England, but it's not a patch compared to Portugal. If you can work at Benfica, you can work anywhere."

What if another European giant came in for him? Graeme Souness stops and looks at me with an expression that begged no debate. "You mean a huge club whose supporters are so desperate for success that their lives almost depend on it, but there's no money?" He shakes his head and screws up his face. "I wouldn't touch it," he says. "Not a chance."