Has Graeme Sourness become a little sweetie?

I think it’s very safe to say that Graeme Souness is hardly the most popular of past toon managers.

In my personal opinion, he ranks somewhere just above Richard Dinnis and Steve Bruce as my nominees for worst ever.

Although he did have to operate with a relatively small squad, Graeme Souness was associated with some big money signings that just didn’t click. Alain Boumsong and Albert Luque being the stand-outs.

He took over a team from Sir Bobby that had finished 4th, 3rd and 5th and took them to 14th. He was sacked the following season after a poor run culminating in a defeat to Man City.

It wasn’t so much his overall results, though, that disappointed me – a 44.6% win rate is quite respectable compared to many of our past managers – but the impact he seemed to have on the atmosphere within the club. He was accused of being “cliquey”, favouring certain players and marginalising others, and it seems he lost the dressing room as a result. It was during his reign that Bowyer and Dyer had their famous spat on the pitch at Villa and Bellamy was accused of faking injury and refusing to play at Arsenal.

Sourness’s verdict on his time at Newcastle United was quite succinct, “My last job was the worst job I had at Newcastle – it was a horrible job.”

He was, without a doubt, a great player but had a very nasty side to his game which, by all accounts, he didn’t leave behind when he moved into management. I remember a friend, who is a huge Blackburn Rovers fan, telling me that a delegation was sent to his office to ask him to stop taking part in the 5-a-side games because of his fouling. It was Blackburn, of course, who we paid handsomely for his services – allegedly the day before they were going to sack him anyway.

In short, Mr “Sourness” is not my favourite person. However, I came cross an article on the BBC website that allowed me to see the man in a different light. He is, apparently, preparing to join a team which will swim the English Channel in support of EB.

EB stands for Epidermolysis Bullosa, which is a group of rare diseases that cause the skin to be fragile and to blister easily. Tears, sores, and blisters in the skin happen when something rubs or bumps the skin. They can appear anywhere on the body.

EB occurs in approximately 1 in 50,000 births worldwide, in every race and ethnic group and affects males and females equally. It is caused by a faulty gene which is passed on by one or even both parents who may be sufferers themselves or carriers unaware of its presence. There is currently no cure, with treatment being aimed at easing the symptoms and improving the quality of life of the sufferer.

Symptoms vary in severity but the disease does cause intense and unpleasant pain as the blisters form and burst. Many sufferers can lead fairly normal lives but others, with more serious symptoms, have a life expectancy that ranges from infancy to 30 years of age.

In the BBC Sport interview, Graeme Souness talked about the disease in very moving terms. In particular, he talked about a young girl, Isla, who suffers quite badly with the condition. He obviously cares a great deal about her – and by extension other sufferers – and has a rather genuine tearful breakdown when talking to her. Something which he says always happens.

Isla’s dad is part of the swimming team as Graeme Souness explains,

“Now I’m not one to walk away from a challenge but this is all new to me; despite living by the sea for the past 16 years, I’ve never been in it, and Isla is the only reason I did. Alongside Isla’s dad, Andy, and the rest of the team, I am determined to complete the Channel crossing, to raise awareness of EB, and to raise the funds that DEBRA so desperately needs. Please support me, every pound raised gets us one step closer to a world where no one suffers with the pain of EB.”

So, good luck to Mr Souness. All power to him for his compassion in this case and let’s hope he helps to raise a massive amount of funds which will help research into and treatment of this quite cruel disease.

If you want to contribute you can find the DEBRA website there is an article with a link enabling you to donate HERE.