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Graeme Souness once threatened to knock out Craig Bellamy during a fiery altercation at Newcastle, according to Kieron Dyer.
One of football’s most notorious hard men, Souness has never been one to back down from a fight – as a player, manager or pundit.
The hot-headed Scot took charge of Newcastle in 2004 after the mild-mannered Sir Bobby Robson was sacked, and the former Liverpool and Rangers midfielder wasted no time in laying down his version of the law.
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When Dyer was summoned to a police station after being accused of urinating in public, Souness allegedly insisted on accompanying the midfielder.
“Graeme Souness turned around in the front seat of the car and looked at me. ‘If I ever have to come to a police station again because you have stepped out of line, I will beat you up’," Dyer wrote in his 2008 book Old Too Soon, Smart Too Late: My Story, as per the Daily Mail.
“I kept my mouth shut. He wasn’t messing around. He was serious.”
Dyer also recounts an incident in which Souness clashed with another confrontational figure in striker Craig Bellamy.
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“He was about a month into the job and there were a few other items on his agenda by then. We had played Charlton and he had substituted Craig Bellamy,” added Dyer.
“The TV cameras caught Craig muttering ‘f****** p****’ in his direction as he walked off. Souness didn’t see or hear it, but when he was shown footage, he was livid. There had also been stories about an altercation between Craig and Nicky Butt before the England–Wales game a week or so earlier.
“Souness wasn’t happy about that, either. He called a meeting. ‘When I was on the outside, looking at this football club,’ he said, ‘I saw a very talented team, but people who are out of control and think they are above the law. Let’s take a typical week since I have been Newcastle manager.’
“He looked at me. ‘I have just been to the police station with this little p****,’ he said. ‘It’s probably normal for him to be back and forth to the police station all the time, but it’s not normal for me.’
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“Then he moved on to Craig and Butty. He had heard about their altercation and that Butty had threatened to beat the s*** out of Craig. ‘I wish he had beaten the s*** out of you,’ Souness said.
Dyer added: “Craig had been warned by Dean Saunders, Souey’s assistant, not to answer back, but it wasn’t in Craig’s make-up to keep quiet. He started protesting that there hadn’t been any argument.
“‘See, this is the problem,’ Souness said. I could see he was about to go. He mentioned a few of the trophies he had won and some of the clubs he had played for. ‘And then someone like you calls me a f****** p****,’ he said to Craig. ‘I’ll f****** knock you out.’
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“He tried to grab Craig by the throat. ‘In the gym now,’ he said. ‘Let’s sort this out like men.’
“Alan Shearer had to pull Souness off him. That was the first time in my life I’ve seen Bellers completely speechless. They never made it to the gym, but it knocked the stuffing out of Craig. Souness had put down a marker.”
Bellamy was later sent to Celtic on loan after accusing Souness of lying about him and his commitment to Newcastle, and the Wales international was eventually sold to Blackburn Rovers in 2005.
Dyer, meanwhile, remained at St James’ Park until 2007 and believes his best spell at the club was under Souness.
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He added: “Souness was actually really good for me. The season I had with him was the best football I played. I think it was because I feared the man. I was physically afraid of him. I didn’t want to cross him because I believed there would be physical consequences if I did. I’d seen the proof. You couldn’t slack off.
“I owed him a lot. I liked his style. Sometimes he’d have his top off in the gym and he’d be doing the chest press and it was like ‘boom’. I was thinking: ‘My God, this guy’.”
Featured Image Credit: PA ImagesTopics: Craig Bellamy, Graeme Souness, Newcastle United, Football, Premier League