Jason McAteer has delivered a stinging attack on Graeme Souness, over two decades after the pair fell out while together at Blackburn Rovers.
Ex-Liverpool, Bolton and Sunderland utility man McAteer insists it took him "years and years" to get over the actions of Souness - the ex-Liverpool captain who was his manager at Ewood Park - insisting he "crossed the line".
Speaking on the Undr the Cosh podcast, McAteer spoke about how his girlfriend at the time - mother of his child - lost both her parents in the space of six weeks. He claims Souness showed "no compassion" and made him leave the hospital to play an FA Cup match.
"I'm in bed. It's a Friday night before a game, the phone goes at 3am in the morning. The girl I was seeing takes the call and her mum's [in the hospital on life support]. I took my kid to his grandparents and went to the hospital.
"Then I got a call from [a Blackburn staff member] saying the gaffer [Souness] says you've got to play Saturday. I'm at the hospital, I can't play. I was in shock. But I was told I had to play, and he played me the full 90 minutes knowing what was going on."
Premier League odds and betting tips
McAteer shared that after the match, he went back to the hospital. The next day, his girlfriend's mum sadly died after her life support was switched off. Just six weeks later, her dad also passed away from cancer.
He added: "I've never been let down by a person in a professional capacity more than that management team. I couldn't forgive [Souness] for it for years and years and years. He had no compassion at all. I was let down by someone who I had big respect for because he was a Liverpool icon and I was a big Liverpool fan. He stepped over the line."
Jason McAteer is now on good terms with Souness - but it took years (UnderTheCosh/Twitter)The Liverpool-born former Republic of Ireland international says he held a huge grudge against Souness for over a decade - until a mutual friend tricked them into meeting each other for dinner.
"[Our mutual friend] knew the whole thing that had gone on, and he knew it'd had been years and years since we'd spoken. So he told us both he'd meet us for dinner but never turned up himself.
"So Graeme and I had dinner, we spoke about it, and he really apologised to me. We get on really well now, we're completely fine with each other."
and receive your daily dose of Mirror Football content. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. If you're curious, you can read our
Read more similar news:
Comments:
comments powered by Disqus
