One of the names constantly bandied around when the question of “who is the worst ever Premier League manager” is raised is Graeme Souness – an aggressive player and a hot-headed manager, and in all honestly the Scot has a good claim to that title.

Here are four reasons why Souness can stake his claim as one of the most craptastic managers in Premier League history.

1.Ali Dia

Souness fell for Ali Dia’s “I’m George Weah’s cousin” routine hook, line and sinker, and the Southampton gaffer invited him over for a month’s loan – with an Arsenal reserve game being cancelled due to a waterlogged pitch, Souey didn’t have a chance to run the rule over his trialist but was eager to see what he was capable of so he put Dia on the bench for the Leeds game. In a remarkable leap of faith, Souness brought on Dia despite never having seen him play. Suffice to say that within seconds it became apparent that Dia didn’t have the requisite talent. He was a fraud, and Souness's name has gone down right at the top of Premier League Plonkers.

‘Souness brought footballing canker sore Jean Alain Boumsong to Newcastle for a massive £8million and then bought unmitigated disaster called Albert Luque for an even more extortionate £9million’


2.Liverpool

Wonder how Liverpool managed to have such a glorious history with such a mammoth trophy haul, but in recent times haven’t come anywhere near league dominance? Look no further than Graeme Souness, the man who started the ball rolling at Anfield with a poor managerial reign. Granted, the mustachioed Scot managed to win the FA Cup in 1992, but that was his sole trophy as Liverpool boss.

Rumours swirled of Souness and his bully-boy management style and the Scot struggled to revamp the ageing Anfield squad. Souness was also in charge when Phil Thompson was controversially sacked. The reserve team coach then promptly forced his former club into paying an out-of-court settlement for unfair dismissal.

After his heart attack and triple heart bypass operation, Souness sold his story to The Sun – a newspaper that is viewed as an obscene publication on Merseyside because of its coverage of the Hillsborough disaster. Liverpool fans felt betrayed.

If that wasn’t bad enough, Souness was in charge of bringing in the new wave of talent to replace Liverpool’s ageing squad – the fact that he deemed Julian Dicks and Neil Ruddock as having the required Liverpool quality, and shipped out Peter Beardsley – says it all.

3.Southampton

Souness stopped off at Southampton after a spell in Turkey, and undoubtedly his biggest gaffe was giving Ali Dia his debut as described above. For that alone Souey should be reprimanded, but the fact that he didn’t have the managerial nous to drag Southampton up was illustrated when he resigned due to lack of transfer funds.

4.Newcastle

Souness spent a rotten 18 months at St James’ Park, and the trouble started almost before he had even walked through the door. Souey failed to control naughty boys Kieron Dyer and Craig Bellamy despite a litany of offences from both of them. Souness also brought footballing canker sore Jean Alain Boumsong to the club for a massive £8million and then bought unmitigated disaster called Albert Luque for an even more extortionate £9million.

One thing is very clear about Souness, he is an abysmal judge of talent – ask most Liverpool fans who their worst manager in the modern era has been and they would unflinchingly bellow “Souness!!!”