MARK Hughes today played down the significance of Graeme Souness's return to Ewood Park by insisting the Boxing Day clash with Newcastle United is 'just another game'.
The Blackburn Rovers chief is determined to keep his players focused on the task of picking up the three points rather than trying to settle a few old scores with their former boss.
The likes of Andy Todd and Garry Flitcroft, who fell out with Souness towards the end of his Ewood reign, are sure to be fired up for the visit of the under-fire Newcastle boss.
However, Hughes insists his players must keep their eyes firmly fixed on the bigger picture, which is to get the win they desperately need to boost their survival hopes.
"We view it as another home game and another opportunity to get three points," said Hughes, who will call his players in for extra training tomorrow.
"It's a really important game for us and we're going to be up against a very good team with a lot of attacking drive so we're going to have to play at the top of our ability to get something out of it.
"I don't think the players are any more determined than they were last week or the week before.
"I don't think any of them have anything to prove to Graeme.
"The vast majority were brought into the club by Graeme and they should be grateful to him for that.
"So I think their thoughts will be solely on playing well and making sure we get the three points."
Ironically, Souness will go into Sunday's game under more pressure to get a result than Hughes, even though Newcastle sit above Rovers in the table.
The Magpies have picked up just 16 points out of a possible 39 since Souness took charge in September and the knives are already out for him.
But Hughes has leapt to the defence of his predecessor, insisting it's far too early to judge Souness's record on Tyneside.
"It's ridiculous, really, because it's so early in his Newcastle career," said Hughes.
"In the initial period you hope to go in and make an impact and Graeme certainly did that.
"I don't think they lost in their first nine games so for him to come under pressure so quickly after that is really surprising.
"You need time to make sure your methods have an impact and your philosophy on how you view football has to have time to become ingrained in the players and he hasn't had that.
"But that's the level of expectation we all work under.
"Everyone accepts it but at times it can be a little bit difficult to understand."
Despite the mounting pressure, Souness is relishing the prospect of facing his former club for the first time since he quit in September.
And he's predicting a fair old 'scrap' with Newcastle hoping to bounce back from their recent set-back at Liverpool, where they lost 3-1.
"I'd love to be coming back with both teams sitting higher up the table and in the middle of decent runs but that's not the case," said the Magpies chief.
"It's going to be a real scrap. Both teams are desperate to get a win under their belts over the holiday period so it should be an interesting game of football.
"We've just got to hope we get some of our injured players back and then we all stand up and be counted on the day because you get nothing for feeling sorry for yourself.
"When the going gets tough, you have to show what you're made of."
Souness admits he's not sure what kind of reception he's likely to receive when he takes his place in the dug-out on Sunday.
Some Rovers fans blame him for allowing things to slide during the final year of his reign but Souness himself insists he only has happy memories of his time in the Blackburn hot-seat.
"I don't know what reception I'll get," he added.
"All I can say is I enjoyed my four years there and I regard myself as a lucky man for having worked at Blackburn."
