Interview : Stuart Allison.
Former skipper ‘Souness’ on tearing himself away from Arthurlie, fighting retirement and NEVER joining Pollok
In amongst the drama of the last eighteen months at Dunterlie, one man stuck to his guns and wanted to keep playing football. In the summer, after nine years, club captain Stuart Allison chose to make the relatively short move up the road to Neilston. Now ‘Souness’ has spoken to arthurliefc.bravejournal.com to give his thoughts on those turbulent months, his years in Barrhead and what he sees the future bringing.
The most obvious place to start is the departure of one of the club’s most popular players and one who the fans, like the player himself, thought would play out his career in light blue and white:
‘It was always going to be hard to leave Arthurlie as I thought I would play out the remainder of my career there, but after the difficult season which we had both on and off the field I think a fresh start for the players and the club was the only option.’
The club of choice for the next stage in his career is Neilston, where several former Arthurlie players have plied their trade after leaving Barrhead, I asked Souness what he thought of those who reckon this is a step down in footballing terms and one rung closer to retirement:
‘[I] think that’s an unfair comment, Neilston have a good squad of players and most of them are young. They won two trophies last season and are now back in the [Super] Premier League.’
Neilston's first competitive match of the season will see Stuart facing up to his former employers with a Sectional League Cup tie at Brig O’Lea. Stuart, in characteristic fashion, is well up for the tie:
‘I suppose it will feel a bit weird when I line up against Arthurlie, but I’m really looking forward to it. I would like to think that I will get a good reaction from most of the ‘Lie fans as I’ve made a lot of good friends in the last nine years’
Realistically though, he knows it won’t be plain sailing first time around ‘I know I will get dogs abuse off someone at some point’. Although not as much as it could have been, had he chosen to join some of his team mates in moving to arch rivals Pollok. He expresses no surprise that so many were willing to make such a move as ‘Pollok are a big club and these guys wanted to go to a club were they hope to win trophies’ although when asked if he would have ever considered such a move I get an emphatic NO!
Moving briefly to the events since February 2005, Stuart clearly believes the time has come to move on:
‘I think what happened over the last 18 months should be forgotten so that the club and players can move forward onto better things’. From a personal viewpoint, Souness elaborates further ‘last season for me was more draining mentally than physically. Being the senior player along with Martin it became a pain…when all we wanted to do was play football but became embroiled in politics at the club’
On our squad for next season, Souness thinks we have made at least a couple of positive signings: ‘You know what you’ll get from Fabi, 100% AND HIS EXPERIENCE WILL HELP THE NEW PLAYERS, wee Brian Smith, Davie McFarlane and Joe Andrew will be good signings’
As for what the future holds for Mr Allison, it seems he’s not ready to hang up his boots yet, with plans to play for at least another 2-3 years. Beyond that, it would appear that he is set to be lost to the footballing world with no plans to move into the coaching or managerial side of the game.
Perhaps more worryingly, he tells me ‘I still want to win cups and medals, and that’s why I chose to go to Neilston. If I was happy to see out retirement I would have gone elsewhere’
One thing is for sure, Neilston have got themselves a quality player in Souness and one who can only lead them to bigger and better things. He has always been loyal to the teams he plays for - the fact the he is approaching his 35th birthday and only now signing for his third junior team tells its own story.
We all wish him the best, with the exception of matches between current and former clubs.
