FORMER SCOTLAND INTERNATIONAL Graeme Souness has said that he used to enjoy playing in hostile environments and getting abused by the fans.
Souness was talking on Second Captains Live this evening about the upcoming clash between Scotland and Ireland.
Much of the talk in the build-up to the game has been about the reception expected for the Irish players, especially James McCarthy and Aiden McGeady, who are both Scottish-born.
The former Liverpool player believes that this is something that the players should take motivation from.
“If I didn’t get a hostile reception playing away from home I’d make sure I quickly got one by smashing into someone. People thrive on that. For James McCarthy and Aiden McGeady they should relish it,” Souness said.
Earlier this week former Scotland international and Man United defender Gordon McQueen made the comment that McCarthy and McGeady “deserve” to get a hostile reception from the crowd.
Souness doesn’t agree however, ”no I wouldn’t agree with that, they chose to play for Ireland and that’s their choice. I have no problem with it whatsoever.
“What can they [the fans] do? They can call them names and that but that’s part of the deal. I used to enjoy it if I was getting booed and abused.
“I can vividly remember playing in games where I got bored and we weren’t doing well so I decided to get a card, to see if that affected us.”
The 61-year-old RTÉ pundit says he sees a lot of similarities between Scottish and Irish football supporters.
“I think Scottish people and Irish people are basically the same in terms of success and failure; we go overboard in both cases.”
Never one to shy away from creating hostility Souness stoked the fire even more at the end of his appearance by taking Olympic gold medalist Katie Taylor off the goodwall and replacing her with Liam Brady.
Surely another bit of motivation for the Ireland players on Friday?
