Graeme Souness committed one of tlhe cardinal sins of Turkish football in 1996. As a celebration for his Galatasaray team’s surprise Turkish Cup win over bitter local Istanbul rivals Fenerbahce he planted a Galatasaray flag in the middle of the Fenerbahce pitch. It sparked fury because, before the game, the clubs had traded a insults. The Fenerbahce chairman made comments about Souness as a coach and so, with his inflammatory flag celebration in the iconic style of Turkish hero Ulubatli Hasan who was killed as he planted the Ottoman flag at the end of the siege of Constantinople, he metaphorically stuffed the words back down their speaker’s throat. Galatasaray won the first leg 1-0, then in the hellish atmosphere of the Fenerbahce Stadium, the teams were level on aggregate before an extra-time Dean Saunders’ goal won it. Souness was never punished.
