"PLANTING THAT FLAG WASN'T PLANNED, IT JUST HAPPENED. IT MADE ME A HERO"

Graeme Souness should have had his feet up in the mid-90s after undergoing heart surgery, but then Galatasaray made him an offer he simply couldn't refuse. In his own words, he recalls controversy, fallouts, threats... but certainly no regrets

- Rob Stewart

For people with Liverpool in their hearts, Istanbul will forever be associated with that miraculous 2005 night at the Ataturk Stadium. It still makes the hairs on the back of every Red's necks stand up...

But for me, something else dramatic also springs to mind whenever the city is mentioned. I'll never be allowed to forget the night I unwittingly became part of Istanbul history and ended up being compared to an ancient warrior.

In Turkey, I'll always be remembered for planting a Galatasaray flag at bitter rivals Fenerbahce's Sukru Saracoglu Stadium on April 24, 1996. I'm proud to say that photographs of the incident adorn Gala's new ground - there's even images in the home dressing room, and a while back [2014], fans unfurled a 'tifo' to honour it [see opening spread]. And to top all of that, in 2023 I was invited back to wave the flag again at a Gala Super Lig-winning party.

I'm constantly reminded about the flag, but I'd like to put some things in context and go on to explain how I ended up with the nickname 'Ulubatli'.

The opportunity for me to manage Galatasaray was clearly meant to be. I'd not long left the Liverpool job, and was putting my feet up. I read all about how atmospheric and crazy Turkish football was and I was intrigued, mainly because I'd had the travel bug since I was a kid growing up in Edinburgh.

I was taking it easy in those days, on a golf course or pottering around my garden, when I got a phone call from Denny Caouki, who became a great friend and whose brother was on the Gala board of directors. We arranged to meet in Paris to discuss the manager's job with a couple of club directors. I was assured that I'd enjoy myself in Istanbul and they were 100 per cent right.