‘I was there when Graeme Souness planted Galatasaray flag – it was chaos after’

Graeme Souness almost caused a riot during the Turkish Cup final between Galatasaray and Fenerbache, with the team held in the dressing room for hours on end

As Liverpool prepare to face Galatasaray in the Champions League, fans will be well aware of the intimidating atmosphere generated inside RAMS Park. One Reds icon who knows a thing or two about the passion in the Turkish League is Graeme Souness, who has managed both teams going face-to-face in Europe this week.

Souness has been involved in plenty of iconic moments through the years. But perhaps his most controversial came during the 1996 Turkish Cup final against Fenerbache, when his Galatasaray team prevailed 2-1 over two legs. Galatasaray vs Fenerbahce is known as one of the world’s most heated derbies, coining the nickname of The Eternal Rivalry.

But Souness took things up a notch further almost 30 years ago as he infuriated Fenerbache’s fans by planting a huge flag in the centre of their pitch. The incident almost incited a riot as the players fled for the safety of the dressing rooms; Souness himself legged it down the tunnel flanked by police.

Premier League icon Brad Friedel was in goal that day for Galatasaray. He previously appeared on Ben Foster’s Fozcast to retell the story, including a few lesser-known details on Souness’s further involvement in the chaos.

Remembering the incident, which has gone down in football folklore, the American shotstopper said: “[He] goes over to the Galatasaray fans, he sees this enormous flag. I mean, it’s like the size of the wall and he picks it up and it’s one of those [big sticks] and he starts running.

“And this is back in the day, in Turkey anyways, where they had like the lime chalk lines that built up, so horrible, in the six yard box by the way. Like the ball would hit and [the chalk] would like go up into your face.

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“He tried to plant it one time and then the flag fell over, and he picks it back up and he like, with his foot, tries to create a hole, and he does. He picks it up, somebody comes over and he like [with his elbow] hits him away. And Deano [Saunders] and I sitting there, we’re looking at him like, ‘I’m not sure this is going to end well.'”

Friedel then recalled Souness getting involved in a physical altercation as the situation escalated.

He said: “And we’re trying to lift the, get our medals and lift the Turkish Cup and we just heard the police had to come and bring all the shields out. And as we’re running off the [field], we couldn’t [celebrate], we got escorted off inside.

“Souness, he was in front of Dean and I. A guy climbed those, you know, the cages? He climbed one, jumped in front of him and Souness, bam. Oh my god, and bam again. He was so proud of himself. He’s like looking around, he’s like, ‘I think I broke his jaw!’ And he’s out.”

Friedel added: “So we go into the changing room. We’re in the changing room for three hours, not one word of an exaggeration. So we got the, they were surrounding our coach, they wouldn’t let it out. They knocked out some windows in it with beer bottles and stuff like that.

“So we finally, after three hours, we get onto the coach and as we’re pulling away, we have the curtains drawn on the coach, but some of the windows are out. And there’s Souness, putting his hands [gestures with two fingers] out the window.”

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