‘Bang! He took a sledgehammer to the club’: Barry Venison on the impact Graeme Souness had on Liverpool when he returned as manager
Graeme Souness tore Liverpool apart when he took over the club as boss, says one of his former stars
Liverpool legend Graeme Souness oversaw a ruthless Reds rebuild as manager, wielding a "sledgehammer", according to former player Barry Venison.
The Merseysiders are in a similar spot at current, with an overhaul of their playing squad needed following a fifth-place finish in the Premier League. Jurgen Klopp has his work cut out getting his side into shape – and now Venison has shed light on how Souness had a similar transition as Liverpool boss.
Souness returned to Anfield from a stint in Scottish football and immediately set about altering things at the club – with Venison one of his unfortunate victims along the way.
"Souness arrived from Rangers, where he’d been highly successful, and bang! He took a sledgehammer to the club," Venison tells FFT now. "He recognised that Liverpool needed a big change and he did it in a radical way, all guns blazing.
"A lot of people went; a lot of people came. I don’t blame him for doing what he did. It was his solution based on what he’d done at Rangers."
The remorseless scythe, however, meant that Venison eventually became surplus to requirements – though the Reds were keen to him on board. Eventually, the County Durham-born defender went back home to Newcastle, though he ended up reuniting with Souness years later, when the Scot brought him to Galatasaray.
"Unfortunately, I had a few problems with my achilles tendon and a young right-back, Rob Jones, joined from Crewe," Venison reveals. "Rob did very well and I was never going to get my place back.
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"Liverpool offered me another contract, but I went to Newcastle."
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