Hoardings, showers & pink dressing rooms – the ‘creative’ ways clubs get an edge

Forget moving billboards, Graeme Souness brought real touchlines.

In September 1987, while he was manager of Rangers, the Scot decided he had to take drastic action after losing 1-0 to Dynamo Kiev in the first round of the European Cup.

Souness, who has never shied away from a challenge throughout his stellar playing career, thought a physical approach might be the way to beat the Ukrainian team at Ibrox.

What better way to make it a more physical game than by making the field smaller and denser?

“At the time, the pitch didn’t have to be a fixed width as long as it was above a certain minimum. So I made it the absolute minimum,” Souness told FourFourTwo.

Not only that, he waited until Kiev’s players had trained on the normal-sized pitch before changing the dimensions on match day.

“It wasn’t pure, but it was within the rules,” Souness added.

Rangers won 2-0 to progress and the rules were later changed to prevent a replay. Clubs now have to declare their field dimensions before the start of the new season.