Graeme Souness has publicly asked for forgiveness from James Milner in a glowing appraisal of the Liverpool player, who he had previously ‘upset’ at Newcastle.
The former Reds captain and manager was the midfielder’s boss at St James’ Park in the mid-2000s when he made the remark that ‘you won’t win the league with James Milners’ (Liverpool Echo).
The Yorkshire native was only 19 at the time, but almost two decades later, he’s gone on to make 616 Premier League appearances and win 12 trophies at club level (Transfermarkt).
In his column for the Daily Mail on Friday, Souness wrote: “I was discussing leadership with Simon Jordan, my fellow Mail Sport columnist this week, and James Milner was one of those I named as a leader I would want in my dressing room.
“At Newcastle, I knew him as a young boy and he has matured into a professional you can bet is a ten out of ten around the dressing room.
“He was upset with me many years ago at Newcastle when I said that ‘you won’t win the league with James Milners’ and he took that as me saying he wasn’t good enough.
“I was trying to say that you needed men. He was only 19 at the time. I apologised to him for that and I hope he’s forgiven me. You can never have enough James Milners in the dressing room. He makes other players turn up.”
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Whatever Souness might’ve made of the now 37-year-old during their mutual time at Liverpool, it’s good to see that the former Reds manager has publicly recognised just what a consummate professional the midfielder has been throughout his career.
Milner’s teammates at Anfield have spoken of their astonishment at his fitness levels, even in the twilight years of his career (GOAL), with the veteran known for recording incredible times for running exercises in pre-season training (talkSPORT).
His traits as a leader were also laid bare with a team talk he gave in a match against Bournemouth during a rare run of poor results in the title-winning 2019/20 campaign.
That was the afternoon when he won widespread acclaim for sprinting back to make a miraculous goal-line clearance in a narrow 2-1 Liverpool victory.
Milner has led by example during his time at Anfield, and while he looks very likely to move on from the club at the end of his contract next month, he’ll depart with the best wishes of every Reds supporter.
Souness’ words are timely and impossible to argue with.