Alan Hansen in 'fight of his life' as Scots icon Graeme Souness shares update

Scots legend Graeme Souness has asked people to say prayers for Alan Hansen after he was admitted to hospital with a serious illness.

The defender went into hospital this week and messages of support and tributes have been flooding in ever since from across the football world, reports the Mirror.

One of those came from his former Scotland teammate Souness. Speaking on talkSPORT, the 71-year-old said: "He's not a colleague, he's a good friend. When people become ill, people always talk about how much of a great guy there that person was.

"I'm telling you now, he's a real human being. It's hard to find a bad word about him. He's a rascal when it comes to humour, he was very smart with that.

"I, like every person who comes across him or listened to him on the television, say a little prayer for him. He is one of life's good guys. Please god, we're all saying a prayer for him that he gets through this.

"I spoke to his wife, Janet, a couple of days ago and you can imagine what state she's in. I'm telling you, he is one of the best guys you've ever met. A proper, proper human being."

Souness was a pundit for Scotland's clash with Germany on Friday night and he added on ITV Sport: “Listen, I had the pleasure of playing with him, he was an absolute dream for a midfield player. He passed the ball at the right weight at the right time from the right angle.

“Just a super football player, I believe the best footballing centre-half ever. I know that’s some statement but I really believe that. I seen him close up and he was a real quality performer.

“And as a human being. You know when people are in trouble with illness people say ‘they’re a great guy’ or ‘they were a great guy’. I’m telling you, he was a great guy.

“He’s a strange breed because I think you’d have to search long, long way to find anyone to say a bad word about him. That takes some doing and his chat and his chat and his banter was top class, he was just a pleasure to be around.

“He’s in the fight of his life right now and we should all say a little prayer for him.”

Hansen and Souness were also at Liverpool together between 1978 and 1984. The Scots duo had 974 appearances between them for the Merseyside outfit - winning five league titles, four league cups and three European Cups together.

Liverpool sent a new message to Hansen on Thursday on the occasion of his birthday. It read: "We're all thinking of Alan and his family on his 69th birthday."

Hansen's former Scotland colleague Gordon Strachan also had some touching words. He said: "He's been a good golfing team-mate as well. To be fair I used to play with [Kenny'] Dalglish and him and used to get beat at that as well.

"Beat at football, beat at golf, I'm used to getting beat at golf with him. One of the world's most laid back men and one of the best players Scotland has ever seen.

"We're thinking about him at the moment. He's one of these guys where you think, he can't get ill, he's always in good nick, he was looking well, chilled. All we can do is think about him. He's in our thoughts, all the Strachans are thinking about him."

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