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Graeme Souness Blasts 'Outside Influences' That Make Life Impossible for Managers

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Never one to mince his words, Sky pundit Graeme Souness has launched a scathing attack on 'outside influences' that make the job of a football manager way tougher than it ought to be.

The former Newcastle United manager is shocked to see the way the game has gone in terms of managers not getting very long in top jobs any more, and he thinks their lives are made more difficult by factors outside of the club, and pointed to West Ham's Jack Sullivan as an example.

Writing in his column for the Sunday Times, as quoted by This is Futbol, he said: "The best two examples of player power undermining managers in recent seasons are Jose Mourinho at Chelsea and Claudio Ranieri at Leicester, both disgracefully sacked the season after winning the Premier League.

"That’s the power of the modern player. If you fall out with a couple of them, you are toast. The board stop valuing your opinion and start to pay attention to the opinion of others.

"Look at the West Ham situation, where you have Jack Sullivan, son of the owner David Sullivan, on social media criticising the manager’s selections, substitutions and signings. All of that is unacceptable."

Sullivan, who is the Hammers Ladies' managing director, has amassed 88,000 followers on Twitter, and has been known to be very vocal about the activities of the men's first team, and some of Slaven Bilic's decisions.