I really don't think we can blame Souness for still playing catch up. Hicks and Gillet set us further back than Souey ever did, both on and off the pitch. Souness still won a trophy, in his time, that's easy to forget. And yes he dismantled the team to quickly, but he also brought through Steve McManamen and Robbie Fowler, not a bad combination to build an attacking force around.
What killed us is that managers who followed from Evans to Houllier to Rafa is that they didn't push on from a solid base. We have been a 'nearly' team under all those managers, and for various reasons we never took that final step under them to league title winners. Remember all those managers have finished 2nd in the league (someone correct me if I'm wrong) and you can't blame Souness for them not taking that final step.
All those coaches came into the job from a low base. Souness as I said, inherited a top side with very high quality players. They had lost their way a bit maybe, but won away games 7-1 and 5-4 weeks before, so they still were in a great position to maintain our domination of the league at the time. I've heard his reasoning for his transfer policy, but I don't accept it.
Evans took over a side struggling to keep up with the mancs, Blackburn, and Newcastle. Houllier took over a side almost halfway down the league, while Rafa took over a side barely able to keep in touch with Newcastle, let alone cope with free-flowing Arsenal, big spending Chelsea, and had just finished 30 points behind the champions. Each of them playing catch up with the opposition at the time. The lack of success and long gaps without silverware in the meantime affected us off the field, as players went elsewhere, and the boards struggled with the demands of running the club in a competent manner.
Kenny is trying now, and he's doing his best. But the problems started with GS, and there is still a long way to go before we're back top of the tree again.
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