‘Ten Hag vs Sancho is nothing – I called Graeme Souness a liar live on TV’

Former Liverpool and Manchester City forward Craig Bellamy believes the friction between Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag and Jadon Sancho is nothing compared to his dispute with Graeme Souness.

The former England international has been locking horns with the United boss ever since his performances in training were criticised after the Red Devils' 3-1 loss to Arsenal in the Premier League. Sancho angrily responded by slating Ten Hag's claims as "completely untrue", resulting in him being frozen out of the club.

Sancho is not the first player who has found himself at war with his own manager. In fact, Bellamy believes the ex-Borussia Dortmund star's impasse is nothing compared to the one he had with Souness at Newcastle United.

READ MORE: Peter Schmeichel's reaction to Andre Onana penalty save has Man Utd fans emotional

READ MORE: All your women's football action packed into Women's Football News

“With Graeme Souness, it turned into a big conflict, which was self-inflicted," Bellamy told The Overlap, in partnership with Sky Bet. "You’re talking about the Jadon Sancho and Erik ten Hag situation, that is nothing in comparison to how I left Newcastle. That situation could be solved very quick.

“I went onto TV and called Graeme Souness a liar, I couldn’t go back and apologise, it had gone too far. Graeme came into the club and in one of his first speeches, he said he was here to win stuff and that if anyone didn’t want to win silverware, then they could get out.

What other huge player vs manager conflicts can you remember? Let us know in the comments section below

As well as the Champions League, TNT Sports will also be offering sports fans access to games across the Premier League, Europa League, Serie A and much more.

You can also watch the biggest events in boxing, UFC, WWE and get exclusive action from MLB.

£29.99 per month on top of £8.99 per month Amazon Prime subscription

"Graeme was a good guy, but I didn’t feel that he handled situations well. We were creating news stories but weren’t winning anything. We were socialising quite a bit, and I didn’t like that, so I can only imagine what other people thought, especially Souness.

"He was never controlling, but he was trying to make us more disciplined as a team. We had Patrick Kluivert at the time, and he had no interest in being disciplined.”

Their rift over-boiled when Souness claimed Bellamy was left out of a 1-0 away defeat against Arsenal, because he did not want to play as a right-sided midfielder. Moments after the interview, the former Welsh international gave his own interview, saying he would be willing to play in any position for the club, before eventually claiming the Liverpool legend had lied about his commitment to the Magpies in a further interview days later.

After being asked to apologise for his comments, Bellamy refused and was subsequently excluded from first-team training. He was then loaned to Celtic in the following transfer window, before eventually signing permanently for Blackburn Rovers the following summer.

Source: Read Full Article