Scotland coach reveals his 20-year feud with Rangers legend Graeme Souness

AFTER playing understudy to Sir Bobby Robson and winning his one and only game in caretaker charge of Newcastle United, John Carver thought he was in with a chance of being kept on when Graeme Souness took over as boss 20 years ago.

As it turned out, he wasn’t even told directly by Souness that he was indeed going to be let go – instead only finding out when the former Rangers hero paraded his own new staff to the players.

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Carver – who will depart his role as assistant to Steve Clarke with the Scotland national team next year – had two spells as a coach at Newcastle (and during both stints he was briefly put in interim charge when someone was sacked).

First time round under Robson, Carver took over for a game against Blackburn on August 30 2004.

The Magpies won 3-0 and Carver, a boyhood Newcastle fan, dedicated the victory to Robson in the aftermath.

Rangers and Liverpool legend Souness was picked to take over from Robson as opposed to Carver and furthermore, he opted to bring in his own backroom staff rather than retain the former defender as a coach.

But Carver insists the way Souness handled the situation left a lot to be desired – and indeed, to his day it still leaves a bitter taste in his mouth.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with SunSport for our One-on-One series, Carver revealed: “He came in at Newcastle and we didn’t see eye-to-eye.

“All he had to do was embrace me. But he didn’t.

“I had taken over in the game against Blackburn, we beat them 3-0 and he couldn’t get involved because he was an ex-Blackburn manager.

“On the Sunday we’re sitting in the dining room and I’m sitting there with the staff and Souness walked in with all his staff, Dean Saunders, Alan Murray, Phil Boersma, and he was introducing them to all the players.

“And I’m sitting at the table with my staff and he hadn’t had a conversation with me.

“That was the day after we beat Blackburn 3-0.

“I knew he was in but I was still waiting to discover my own fate.

“But I only discovered it when they walked through the door.

“We then all sat down and we were sitting having a conversation and Dean Saunders said ‘Gaffer, remember when you stuck that flag in the middle of the pitch at Galatasaray?’

“I just looked at Graeme and because I’m a straight talker and don’t mess about and Graeme looked at me and realised I wasn’t very happy.

“So he said we should have a chat and we went in his room and he said ‘You know how football is John, I’m going to bring my mates in’ and I said ‘That’s fine, I’m okay with that if that’s what you want to do’.

“But he told me that (then chairman) Freddy Shepherd wanted me to be the academy director and I said just tell Freddy I’m going to have a break and a holiday and I’ll think about it.

“So I walked out, went to my office, packed my bags and out I went.”

The feud has continued to this day and Carver remains so hurt that he would go out of his way to avoid Souness nowadays.

He also claimed he wouldn’t shake his hand if the situation arose.

Carver said: “If I saw him in a room, I have to say I wouldn’t want to speak to him and wouldn’t shake his hand. That’s how strongly I feel.

“That’s common knowledge to people who know me and know him and it’s sad really because he was a legend of a footballer.

“But I don’t think his personal skills were great.”

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