SIR ROD VS SOUNESS
Stewart and Souey in £10,000 charity bet after ex-Gers boss makes Hoops ‘b ****** s’ jibe
RIVAL Old Firm superfans Graeme Souness and Sir Rod Stewart have agreed a £10,000 charity bet on the outcome of this year’s title race.
The famous pair put the whopping wager on the back of a friendly spat this week over which club will lift the trophy at the end of the season. Souness – the former Rangers boss who revolutionised the Ibrox club when he became playermanager in 1986 – had said: “It’s all about how you deal with the pressure – and Rangers have dealt with it. “Now it’s Celtic’s turn. Let’s see how they deal with it. You have to be a big player to play for the Old Firm. You have to have big b ****** s.” In a fiery text message to Talksport host Jim White, veteran rocker Rod hit back: “If we had kept 11 men on the field last week, Celtic would have won comfortably against Hearts at Tynecastle.” Rangers currently lead rivals Celtic by just two points at the top of the table with nine games left to play and both celebrity supporters fancy their team’s chances.
Speaking exclusively to the Daily Record, Maggie May singer Rod, said: “I’ve always felt Graeme was one of the more intelligent characters in this football circus that we all love – but not on this occasion!
“I have enormous respect for a proper Scottish football legend but never accuse my team of having no b ****** s. Stop kidding yourself, matey – it’s Celtic’s title all the way!”
Also speaking exclusively to the Record, ex-Liverpool and Scotland captain Souness, 70, said: “My favourite memory of Rod is when he played for us in a veterans’ game at Wembley in front of 100,000 fans before an England v Scotland game. Rod was a decent player and we won 3-0. But his team won’t be winning the big prize this season.”
Looking back to that game Rod, 79, added: “It was amazing. I was playing alongside some of my heroes like Davie Hay, John Wark and Kenny Dalglish. And to top it off, I even scored a goal!”
If Rangers win the league, Rod, whose Swing Fever album with Jools Holland is No1 in the charts, will donate £10,000 to Graeme’s chosen charity Debra.
The organisation supports people with the rare, extremely painful, genetic skin blistering condition epidermolysis bullosa (EB), also known as butterfly skin.
Just last summer, Souness swam the English Channel to raise more than £1million for Debra’s A Life Free of Pain Appeal.
If Celtic retain the league trophy, Graeme will stump up £10,000 for the St Andrew’s Hospice in Airdrie.
In recent years, the hospice has provided palliative care for Rangers legends Fernando Ricksen and Andy Goram.
Rod has often donated VIP concert tickets for fundraising events and, for its Sporting Dinner at the Strathclyde Hilton this Saturday night, he’s given St Andrew’s six signed albums plus half a dozen bottles of his own-brand Wolfie’s whisky.
Graeme is one of the more people intelligent in football but not this time!
ROD STEWART BACKS UP BELOVED CELTS