Souness is posted missing as Liverpool board meeting drags on

JAMES TRAYNOR

5 May 1993

THE mystery on Merseyside deepened yesterday when Graeme Souness missed training on the eve of Liverpool's Premier League match against Oldham and the Anfield club's board went into lengthy session for the second time in three days.

Inevitably, Souness's absence from the training ground and the gathering of directors strengthened speculation that the manager's dismissal was imminent, even though it was later stated that he missed training because he was having a medical check a year after his heart by-pass operation.

The likelihood is that Souness, who will be 40 tomorrow -- and who claims to be in magnificent health -- will be leaving the club.

It was believed the delay in making an announcement was caused by discussions on compensation terms.

Liverpool's chief executive, Peter Robinson, claimed the early evening board meeting was nothing more than a routine affair.

Before going into the meeting, which started at 4pm and lasted almost five hours, he added that Souness's future was not up for discussion and that the former Rangers manager would continue his duties as normal at Oldham.

Nevertheless, the media pack grew larger as the board talked and the rumours continued on the streets of Merseyside.

Those close to the club were certain Souness's two-year reign was increasingly likely to end in dismissal.

Ironically, Manchester United, who were in the habit of dispensing with managers regularly, admitted yesterday that the best policy is to choose a man and allow him time.

Their patience was rewarded the other night when the English championship trophy was paraded around Old Trafford for the first time in 26 years.

It seems now that Liverpool may be on the verge of doing what United used to do with their managers when, in fact, it was always Liverpool who were prepared to have faith in their appointments.

Earlier this week there was a suggestion -- dismissed as "fantasy" -- that Edinburgh-born Souness may bid for control of Hearts and this prompted a word from the Tynecastle club's chairman Wallace Mercer, who sacked his own manager, Joe Jordan, on Monday.

"Hearts are not for sale and never have been," said Mercer.

Meanwhile, Aston Villa's Ron Atkinson and QPR's Gerry Francis, both linked with Liverpool in the event of Souness's departure, looked false trails.

The house move that apparently sparked the Atkinson association turned out to be only 50 yards down the road from his old house and Francis will this week be offered a new, improved contract by QPR.

Newcastle United's chief Kevin Keegan and former Anfield manager Kenny Dalglish, now in charge at Blackburn Rovers, are others mentioned, but it would be a surprise if either returned to Anfield.

Former Liverpool striker John Toshack, who turned down the job once before to remain in Spain with Real Sociedad, appears a more likely contender.

Although there was no announcement last night Souness, who fully expected to be stood in front of the board at the end of the season to explain the club's worst campaign in three decades, must be a worried man and can do no more than await developments.

His transfer dealings have failed to produce consistent success and only last week he had another brush with officialdom when he was fined £500 by the FA following a touchline incident involving a linesman during the game against Crystal Palace..

The emergency four-and-a-half hour meeting on Sunday night, which seemed to suggest trouble for Souness, still has not been satisfactorily explained.

"I was not aware that a board meeting had been arranged, it was all news to me," said Souness.

Taken from the Herald