Graeme Souness is not someone who often admits to being afraid.
Souness’ hard-man reputation meant that he was usually the one instilling fear as both a player and manager.
But Ronnie Moran was not your average man and the legendary Liverpool captain, who sadly passed away this week at the age of 83, was most definitely one you wanted on your side when the chips were down.
And Souness was frightened of him.
Moran played for the Reds between 1952 and 1968, and remained a loyal servant for the club for decades to follow as he tried his hand at coaching and even enjoyed two spells as caretaker manager at Anfield.
In short, nobody has done more for Liverpool than Moran.
This week, tributes have poured in from the footballing community to honour the memory of Moran and nobody has a better story about his ability to stand up for himself and others than his old friend Graeme Souness.
As we all know, Souness has never seen a fight he didn’t want to get involved in but there was one occasion when he needed Moran to step in.
“I was frightened of him,” Souness admitted when speaking to Irish radio programme Off The Ball. “Let me tell you another story. We had played a Romanian team and I got involved with one of their players and I ended up doing something I shouldn’t have done.
“I threw a punch at him and he had to go off. So at the end of the game – and remember this is the Iron Curtain time – but at the end of the game at Anfield, I went off the pitch and started climbing the stairs. As I’m going up the stairs I can see guy.
“He’s broken his jaw, he’s got ice packed into a towel and he’s got it tied around his head. And I’m obviously chuckling at him. These two big guys in long leather coats appear from nowhere and start making their way towards me, up the stairs.
“Again, from nowhere, Ronnie appears. Ronnie had a massive chest! He was a great, big powerful man, Ronnie. He said to them ‘Okay then, what are you going to do about it?’ with some blue language thrown at them and they thought twice about confronting me.
“I was forever grateful for Ronnie preventing me from getting a back-hander that night.
“We were pretty frightened of Ronnie Moran. He wasn’t a bully, don’t get me wrong, he wasn’t a bully but when he kicked off he could be ferocious. He’ll be sorely missed.”
