Graeme Souness
Encyclopedia
Graeme James Souness is a Scottish former professional football player and manager.
Souness was the captain of the successful Liverpool
team of the early 1980s and player-manager of Rangers in the late 1980s as well as captain of the Scottish national team
. He also played for Tottenham Hotspur
, Middlesbrough
and Sampdoria
in a long career. Following his retirement from playing he worked as a manager, with Rangers, Liverpool
, Southampton
, Benfica, Galatasaray
, Blackburn Rovers
and Newcastle United
.
Souness now does media work and divides his time working for RTE
in Ireland, ESPN
, Sky Sports
and Al Jazeera Sports
.
Mains area of Edinburgh
, and supported local side Hearts
and Rangers
. As with other tough-tackling Scottish midfielders such as Dave Mackay and Billy Bremner
, journalists have regularly attributed Souness's rumbustious playing style to his modest upbringing. As a teenager Souness played for local boys' club North Merchiston
.
Souness's career began as an apprentice at Tottenham Hotspur
under Bill Nicholson
. He signed professional forms as a 15 year-old in 1968. Frustrated at a lack of first team opportunities, the teenage Souness reputedly informed Nicholson that he was the best player at the club. Souness made one solitary appearance for Spurs in the UEFA cup as a substitute.
During the summer of 1972, Souness played in the North American Soccer League
for the Montreal Olympique
. He appeared in 10 of his team’s 14 games, and was named in the league’s All-Star team for that season.
Back in England, Souness had played just once for Spurs prior to a £30,000 move to Middlesbrough
in 1972. His debut came on 6 January 1973 in a 2–1 league defeat to Fulham
at Craven Cottage
. His first goal came on 11 December 1973 in a 3–0 league victory over Preston North End
at Ayresome Park
.
Souness's tenacious style began to garner increasing acclaim during his time at Middlesbrough. His first season saw Middlesbrough finish fourth, two places and 14 points short of promotion. In May 1973, the recently retired Jack Charlton
was appointed to his first managerial post. Promotion as champions of the Second Division followed. Souness's growing influence was demonstrated in a hat-trick
in the season's final fixture, an 8–0 victory over Sheffield Wednesday
.
, where he won five League Championships, three European Cup
s and four League Cups
.
His time at Anfield
began in 1978 as a replacement for veteran Ian Callaghan
. After winning his first European Cup
in 1977, Liverpool manager Bob Paisley
sought reinforcements by signing three Scottish players, all of whom were to contribute substantially to further success. Central defender Alan Hansen
arrived from Partick Thistle
for £110,000. Kenny Dalglish
– an established Scottish international – signed from Celtic
for a then British record fee of £440,000. Souness formed the final part of the Scottish triumvirate, leaving Middlesbrough in acrimonious circumstances for a club-record fee of £350,000 on 10 January 1978.
Souness's Liverpool debut came in a 1–0 league victory over West Bromwich Albion
at The Hawthorns
on 14 January 1978. His first goal – a characteristic volley just inside the penalty box, eventually awarded fans' goal of the season – came in a 3–1 win over bitter rivals Manchester United
at Anfield on 25 February 1978.
Souness played a critical role in Liverpool's retention of the European Cup against FC Bruges
at Wembley, providing the pass for Dalglish to score the game's only goal.
Sustained success followed. Souness's first League title medals were won in seasons 1978–79
and 1979–80
. A second European Cup
medal for Souness arrived in 1981 with a 1–0 victory over Real Madrid
– the culmination of a campaign in which Souness scored a hat-trick in the quarter-final against CSKA Sofia.
This burst of success prompted Paisley to award Souness the club captaincy for season 1981–82
, to the chagrin of the incumbent Phil Thompson
who had made some errors that season and Paisley had a viscious row with during one match at Aston Villa. Thompson initally refused to speak to Souness claiming he had "stolen the captaincy" from behind his back. This was the start of several long running feuds between the two robust characters and over the coming years they would confront each other in various circumstances. Under Souness's captaincy, two trophies followed as Liverpool regained the League championship and retained the League Cup – trophies that were successfully defended in season 1982–83
. Souness relinquished his right as captain to lift the League Cup at Wembley after the 2–1 win over Manchester United in 1983, insisting that Paisley collected the trophy in his retirement season.
In 1983–84
, Souness lifted three trophies as Liverpool again retained the League title and League Cup, with Souness scoring the winning goal in the replayed final of the latter against rivals Everton - the first all-Merseyside
cup final.
The European Cup
was regained after a penalty shoot-out win over AS Roma
, with Souness scoring one of the penalties in the shootout.
Souness's Liverpool career ended in 1984 after 358 appearances and 56 goals.
for a fee of £650,000. Souness and England international Trevor Francis
– a player at the Genoa
-based club since 1982 – added experience to an emerging group of future Italian internationals, including Roberto Mancini
, Pietro Vierchowod
and Gianluca Vialli
. In his first season, Sampdoria won the Coppa Italia
with a 3–1 victory over Serie A
rivals AC Milan
, securing the trophy for the first time in the club's history.
Souness's career in Italy ended in 1986 as he took up the position of player-manager at Rangers
, making a further 50 league appearances before retiring as a player in 1991 at the age of 38.
on 30 October 1974 in a 3–0 friendly victory over East Germany
at Hampden Park
. By the time Souness was selected by manager Ally McLeod for the Scotland squad for the World Cup
in Argentina
in 1978, however, he had been awarded only six caps. His move to Liverpool, and a greatly increased profile, saw growing demands for the award of regular place.
A defeat and a draw in Scotland's first two World Cup group games against Peru
and Iran
saw calls for Souness, recovered from injury, to play in the critical final group match against the Netherlands
. Replacing an established midfield, Souness contributed to a 3–2 victory that nevertheless saw Scotland eliminated from the tournament on goal difference.
Souness played in two further World Cups. The first, in 1982
in Spain
, saw Souness play all three group games. His first international goal arrived in the final match prior to elimination, a 2–2 draw with the Soviet Union
in Malaga.
A final World Cup appearance came in 1986
in Mexico
, at a time when Souness had already been appointed Rangers player-manager. Souness played in defeats to Denmark
and West Germany
. He was omitted by caretaker manager Alex Ferguson
for Scotland's final game against Uruguay
, apparently due to his poor physical condition after the previous two matches where he had lost much fluid and weight. In Souness's autobiography, The Management Years he claims this was the first and only time in his whole career, including at schoolboy level, he had ever been dropped for a football match. Ferguson was unusually apologetic and was very respectful and diplomatic in his conversation with Souness at night when he broke the news to him, as he held Souness in high regard.
Souness's Scotland career ended after the World Cup after 54 appearances and four goals in almost 12 years.
|1971/72||Tottenham Hotspur
||First Division
||0||0||||||||||||||||
|-
|1972||Montreal Olympique
||NASL
||10||2||||||||||||||||
|-
|1972/73||rowspan="6"|Middlesbrough
||rowspan="2"|Second Division
||9||0||||||||||||||||
|-
|1973/74||35||7||||||||||||||||
|-
|1974/75||rowspan="4"|First Division
||38||7||||||||||||||||
|-
|1975/76||35||3||||||||||||||||
|-
|1976/77||38||2||||||||||||||||
|-
|1977/78||19||3||||||||||||||||
|-
|1977/78||rowspan="7"|Liverpool
||rowspan="7"|First Division
||15||2||||||||||||||||
|-
|1978/79||41||8||||||||||||||||
|-
|1979/80||41||1||||||||||||||||
|-
|1980/81||37||6||||||||||||||||
|-
|1981/82||35||5||||||||||||||||
|-
|1982/83||41||9||||||||||||||||
|-
|1983/84||37||7||||||||||||||||
|-
|1984/85||rowspan="2"|Sampdoria
||rowspan="2"|Serie A
||28||5||||||||||||||||
|-
|1985/86||28||3||||||||||||||||
|-
|1986/87||rowspan="4"|Rangers
||rowspan="4"|Premier Division
||25||1||||||||||||||||
|-
|1987/88||18||2||||||||||||||||
|-
|1988/89||6||0||||||||||||||||
|-
|1989/90||1||0||||||||||||||||
421||60||||||||||||||||
10||2||||||||||||||||
56||8||||||||||||||||
50||3||||||||||||||||
537||73||||||||||||||||
|}
|1974||2||0
|-
|1975||1||0
|-
|1976||0||0
|-
|1977||0||0
|-
|1978||6||0
|-
|1979||6||0
|-
|1980||3||0
|-
|1981||4||0
|-
|1982||9||1
|-
|1983||8||1
|-
|1984||4||1
|-
|1985||7||0
|-
|1986||4||1
|-
!Total||54||4
|}
first player-manager in April 1986, signing from Sampdoria for a fee of £300,000 and succeeding Jock Wallace
. Financed initially by the club's then owner, Lawrence Marlborough, Souness and club chairman David Holmes
embarked upon a bold strategy of reclaiming the footballing ascendancy that Rangers had been desperately seeking in Scotland after years in the wilderness due to the dominance of arch-rivals, Celtic
, and the emergence of the 'New Firm'
of Aberdeen
and Dundee United
.
What came popularly to be termed the 'Souness Revolution' began with a slew of major signings from English clubs. Significantly, this reversed the historic pattern of Scotland's most able footballers playing in England. Souness's first season saw the arrival of players such as Terry Butcher
, captain of Ipswich Town
and an established England international, and Chris Woods
of Norwich City
, England's second-choice goalkeeper. Subsequent seasons saw the arrival of other English internationals, such as Trevor Steven
, Gary Stevens
, Trevor Francis
and Ray Wilkins
. Souness was able to offer the lure of European club competition, at a time – 1985–90 – when English clubs were banned from Europe in the wake of the Heysel Stadium disaster
. Rangers profited from this by embarking upon a signing policy which drew on their relative wealth to compete, for the first time, directly with England's most powerful clubs.
Souness's revitalised Rangers quickly began to dominate Scottish football. In his first season, 1986–87
they won the Championship and the League Cup, beating Celtic 2–1 in the final. Two more Championships were to follow, this time in successive seasons (1988–89
and 1989–90
), and a further two League Cup victories, over Aberdeen 3–2 in 1988–89 and Celtic 2–1 in 1990–91
. Souness left Rangers, to take over as manager of Liverpool, in 1991, replaced by his assistant, Walter Smith, four games prior to the end of what was to become another championship-winning season.
Souness's time at Ibrox was marked by persistent controversy. His most noteworthy act was the controversial signing of Mo Johnston
in 1989. Rangers – historically a team supported by Protestants – were widely held to have implemented for most of the 20th century a policy of refusing to sign Roman Catholics. Although several previous Rangers players came from Catholic backgrounds (including, at the time of Johnston's signing, John Spencer
), their religious background was not made public and none of them were high-profile players. Johnston's arrival at Ibrox was significant because it signaled a very public end to a discriminatory signing policy. It was also significant because Johnston, a former Celtic player and coveted Scottish international, had days earlier at a press conference at Celtic Park
publicly announced his decision to return to his former club. After he left Rangers, Souness suggested bigotry "will always be at Ibrox".
Further controversy centred on Souness's dealings with the Scottish Football Association
and Scottish League hierarchies. A succession of confrontational after-match comments pitched Souness regularly at loggerheads with both organisations, prompting touchline bans which Souness circumvented in characteristically provocative fashion by naming himself as a substitute, allowing access as a player to the dugout. Souness was later to claim that conflict with officialdom was one of the principal factors precipitating his departure from Ibrox.
Souness's appointment as Rangers' manager garnered most attention, but his arrival as a player was also of significance. Souness arrived at Ibrox with a reputation as one of Europe's leading midfielders – a view evidenced by his success at Liverpool and, to a lesser extent, with Sampdoria. His signing was unusual in that Scottish clubs had rarely been able to sign top-quality internationals, including Scots, from other leagues.
Souness's playing career at Ibrox began inauspiciously. His competitive debut – in the opening game of the 1986–87 season, against Hibernian
in his hometown of Edinburgh
– saw him sent off after two yellow cards in the first 34 minutes. Souness later self-deprecatingly argued that his second booking, for a foul on George McCluskey
, had been awarded because "my boot ran up his leg!" Disciplinary problems – something that had recurred periodically throughout Souness's career – resurfaced on a number of occasions during his time as a player at Rangers.
Souness made 49 appearances for Rangers. Much of his time as player was blighted by injury. His final appearance as a player was at Ibrox in a 2–0 victory over Dunfermline Athletic
in Rangers' last home game of the 1989–90 season, when he brought himself on for the final 20 minutes.
, who had played alongside Souness at Liverpool, resigned as Liverpool manager in February 1991 after five and a half seasons in charge, during which the club had been league champions three times and FA Cup winners twice (including double winners
in 1986) and had never finished lower than runners-up in the league. Coach Ronnie Moran
was put in temporary charge following Dalglish's sudden resignation on 22 February, but on 15 April it was reported that Souness had been made an offer by the Liverpool board to return to the club as manager. He accepted the offer was unveiled as the club's new manager the following day on a five-year contract.
The three years which followed were uneventful for Souness and relatively disastrous for Liverpool
. There was little success on the field, with only a 2–0 victory in the 1992 FA Cup
final over Second Division Sunderland
, but poor tactics, ill-judged transfer dealings and poor man management brought one of the bleakest spells in the history of one of Europe's
most successful clubs of all time.
His appointment came just before Liverpool finished second to Arsenal
in the race for the 1990–91
league title. He made a major reorganisation of the squad for the following season, bringing in Dean Saunders
for a national record of £2.9million as well as defenders Mark Wright and Rob Jones and midfielder Mark Walters
. He also gave a regular place in the team to 19-year-old midfielder Steve McManaman
, whose debut had come under Kenny Dalglish in December 1990, and near the end of that campaign he gave a professional contract to a highly promising youth team striker called Robbie Fowler
. During the first stages of the 1991–92 season
, Liverpool were looking like serious title contenders, but it soon became an effective two-horse race between Manchester United
and Leeds United
, eventually being won by the team from West Yorkshire
, while Liverpool came sixth – the FA Cup win being their consolation. They also returned to European competition that season after six years of isolation following the Heysel disaster of 1985, and reached the UEFA Cup
quarter finals where they were eliminated by Genoa
of Italy.
Souness later claimed in his autobiography, The Management Years that he faced an uphill struggle from day one for a number of reasons. The majority of key players were around or over the age of 30 such as Ian Rush, John Barnes, Peter Beardsley, Steve Mcmahon, Ray Houghton, Jan Molby, Ronnie Whelan, Steve Nicol, Bruce Grobbelaar of whom many had testimonials during his time in charge. He knew they had eventually to be replaced and he doubted some of their desire. He claims in his book the senior pros also appeared not to want to listen to him and may have resented his disciplinarian approach to their behaviour, and also claimed a number of players including Beardsley and Mcmahon demanded improved terms on their contracts or they would move elsewhere. In the end Beardsley, Mcmahon, and Houghton were sold, admittingly too early on before replacements were found and these key components of Kenny Dalglish's last great side were never really ever replaced. Ian Rush and Ray Houghton had also demanded to know why new signings like Mark Wright were earning more money than them despite yet having won anything. Souness also claims Chairman Peter Robinson at the time had warned him this was a Liverpool team in decline and that they only had one player who was still great, John Barnes
. Souness was left disappointed by Barnes as he was at this time frequently suffering from injuries around this time, and in particular suffered a ruptured achilles tendon which was to eventually affect his acceleration therefore affecting his playing style, and not giving Souness what he wanted from a vintage Barnes at his peak which was what he saw as a "devastating winger with pace and goalscoring touch." he had also claimed that Barnes was once the "best player in Britain" but unfortunately only saw flashes of his brilliance.
Rumours about squabbles in the dressing room between the players and Souness were rife, with Ian Rush famously telling a Sky Sports
interviewer that 'teacups being thrown' were nothing new. One of the few successes, barring the FA Cup triumph, that Souness enjoyed while manager of Liverpool was the fact that he had blooded several new prodigious young talents like Steve McManaman
and Robbie Fowler
allowing them to play and develop in the first team. Both went on to be highly successful for both club and country.
Souness had major heart surgery in April 1992, and led his players out at Wembley for the FA Cup final
just days after leaving hospital. But there had been controversy over the semi-final against Portsmouth
, which Liverpool needed a replay and penalties to win.
In the event of a victory for Liverpool, an interview was due to be published in the Sun
, a British tabloid, with Souness celebrating the win and his own successful surgery. The photograph which accompanied the interview was of Souness, in his hospital ward, kissing his girlfriend with joy at his own recovery and his team's win.
The interview was due to go in alongside the match report on 14 April 1992 but the late end to the game meant that the deadline for publication was missed and the report, with interview and photograph, went in on 15 April instead – the third anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster
, which had claimed the lives of 95 fans (a 96th victim
would die in 1993, having never regained consciousness).
Liverpool fans reacted with fury after seeing that the interview was conducted with the Sun
– a newspaper which had been boycotted by many people in Liverpool for the intervening years over its reporting of the events at Hillsborough. Although he apologised profusely at the time, Souness has since said that he probably should have resigned there and then. Media reports on 8 February 2011 showed, that Souness finally felt contrite enough to publicly apologise to all Liverpool fans for the badly-timed Sun interview, nearly 20 years after it had happened.
1992–93
was even more frustrating. Just after the start of the season, he sold Dean Saunders
to Aston Villa
. While Saunders was a key player in Villa's near-successful title challenge, his successor Paul Stewart proved to be perhaps the biggest flop to play under Souness at Liverpool, scoring just one league goal from 32 appearances over the next two seasons and missing countless games through injury. Ian Rush
was having a torrid time in front of goal, and Liverpool spent most of the season in the bottom half of the table. They entered March still only in 15th place, but an excellent final quarter of the season – in which Rush scored 11 Premier League goals – saw them finish sixth.
The fans were running out of patience with Souness, but he made one last attempt at revitalising Liverpool by signing defender Julian Dicks
and striker Nigel Clough
for the 1993-94 season
. The season began well enough, but a dismal run of form in early winter effectively ended hopes of the Premier League title and Souness was sacked at the end of January 1994 when Liverpool had suffered a shock FA Cup exit at the hands of Bristol City
. He was succeeded by coach Roy Evans
.
Souness's reign as Liverpool manager was not remembered with fondness by the club's fans, though there were some positive events. Apart from guiding them to FA Cup glory in 1992, he also oversaw the breakthrough of three young players who would go on to be a key part in Liverpool's better performances over the next five years – Steve McManaman, Robbie Fowler and Jamie Redknapp
. In 1992, he had also brought in David James
as an eventual successor to Bruce Grobbelaar
(who finally left in 1994) and although the player's fortunes at Anfield
were mixed, he later went on to enjoy better fortunes elsewhere and was still keeping goal for England
at the end of the following decade as he approached his 40th birthday.
Souness also fell out with fellow Anfield legends and former team mates Tommy Smith and Phil Thompson around this time. In his autobiography he claims Thompson, the reserve team mamager was overheard angrily criticising his tactics and purchases behind his back, which was overheard by Manchester United Assistant Manager Brian Kidd and relayed to Walter Smith who was so alarmed by Thompson's behaviour that he drove from Scotland to Liverpool to tell Souness what had been said. Souness dismissed Thompson as a result and the two have remained bitter towards each other since. Souness claimed that they had a number of spats as players, including Thompson refusing to speak to Souness for a while after Thompson lost the captaincy to Souness in 1981, and an argument and fight which took place after Thompson had accused Souness of marrying his first wife only because she was wealthy. Souness believed these incidents may have contributed to Thompson's dislike and disrespect of him. Tommy Smith had been criticising Souness in the local media at the time, and he had also been caught hanging around with the players and coaches at Anfield despite no longer having an official position at the club. Souness banned Smith from the club areas, and said that in his last phonecall with Tommy Smith instructing him not to hang around the official club areas, he was certain he had "made an enemy for life".
linking him with a return to Middlesbrough as manager - a job which went to Bryan Robson
instead.
He went to manage Galatasaray
in Turkey
in June 1995, and again managed to court controversy with local issues – nearly sparking a riot after placing a large Galatasaray flag into the centre circle of the pitch of arch rivals Fenerbahçe after Galatasaray had beaten them in the Turkish Cup final on 24 April 1996. The iconic image of the victor planting the flag drew comparisons with Turkish hero Ulubatli Hasan
, who was killed as he planted the Ottoman
flag at the end of the Siege of Constantinople. This earned Souness the nickname 'Ulubatlı Souness'.
, but after one season he resigned, citing differences with chairman Rupert Lowe
. Probably his most memorable moment with the Saints was signing Senegalese player Ali Dia
, supposedly on the recommendation of former FIFA World Player of the Year
and former Liberian
striker
George Weah
. Souness did not check any of Dia's supposed credentials, and this subsequently proved to be a hoax, instigated by Dia's agent (who had made the initial call). When Dia played his only game in the Premier League as a substitute for Matt Le Tissier
, he performed amazingly poorly, and was later substituted himself after only 20 minutes on the field.
The Saints managed to avoid relegation from the Premier League in Souness's only season as manager, finishing 16th, but he resigned towards the end of May 1997. Within days it was reported that Everton
, Liverpool's local rivals
, were interesting in appointing him as manager to succeed Joe Royle
, but this never happened.
. When he arrived it was clear he would have no say in what players he could buy or sell, as the club's owner made those decisions. Souness lasted just four months before being dismissed.
(defenders Steve Harkness
and Gary Charles
, midfielders Michael Thomas and Mark Pembridge
and forwards Dean Saunders
and Brian Deane
) as well as refusing to sign emerging talent Deco
. After two unsuccessful seasons, Souness was sacked. All of Benfica's British footballers (including the previously signed left-back Scott Minto
) also left the club.
, earning promotion back to the Premier League in his first full season. During his four year spell at Blackburn he initially got the very best out of talented youngsters such as Damien Duff
, David Dunn
and Matt Jansen
; brought Henning Berg
back to the club and signed big name players like Andy Cole
, Tugay Kerimoğlu
, Brad Friedel
and Dwight Yorke
. Cole and Jansen scored in Blackburn's 2–1 League Cup victory over Tottenham Hotspur
in 2002.
He then guided Blackburn to a top 6 finish before a disappointing final season in 2003–04
in which the club struggled, although they avoided relegation. After less than one month of the following season many Blackburn fans had begun to express grave doubts in Souness' handling of the club. His authoritarian methods had led to the alienation or departure of Yorke, Cole, Dunn, Gillespie and Berg. He could not be blamed for the long term loss of Matt Jansen
to a motorbike accident or Damien Duff's departure to Chelsea. None of these players however were sufficiently replaced. Vratislav Gresko
, Lorenzo Amoruso
and Corrado Grabbi
were all flops, whilst Steven Reid
and Brett Emerton
were also disappointing – although both shone for Blackburn after Souness' departure.
.
Despite a promising start to his role with results back to back, Souness quickly fell out with a number of players including Welsh international Craig Bellamy
who left the club to join Souness's former employers, Blackburn, after being farmed out on loan to Celtic. Laurent Robert
, Olivier Bernard
and Jermaine Jenas
are also believed to have left the club on bad terms with Souness. The team finished 14th in the league and despite making it to the quarter-final of the UEFA Cup
and the semi-final of the FA Cup
, Souness found himself under mounting pressure from Toon supporters.
Newcastle began the 2005–06 season in poor form but Souness was hoping that the purchase of Michael Owen
from Real Madrid
on 30 August for an estimated club-record fee of £17 million would help to turn the club's fortunes around. Newcastle recorded a win in the Tyne-Wear derby
against Sunderland (3–2), and went on to win their next three games keeping three clean sheets. Souness seemed to be tightening-up Newcastle in defence, with six clean sheets in Newcastle's first 12 games of the season (as many as the whole of the preceding campaign). His decision to reform the former England striker duo Alan Shearer
and Michael Owen
initially appeared shrewd. But to Souness's and the club's misfortune, Michael Owen
cracked the fifth metatarsal of his right foot when he clashed with England team-mate Paul Robinson
during a 2–0 defeat at Tottenham on 30 December 2005 and was out of action for three months, adding to the club's injury woes.
Criticism of Souness's apparent lack of long term planning centred on a threadbare squad and a consequent vulnerability to injury. Expensive signings such as Jean-Alain Boumsong
for £8 million and Albert Luque
for £10 million failed to make an impression. By the end of his reign as Newcastle boss, Souness was deeply unpopular with the Newcastle fans, as evidenced by the frequency and vociferousness of "Souness Out" chants. By the beginning of February 2006, Newcastle United were placed 15th in the Premier League table and sliding dangerously towards a relegation battle, despite the spending of £50m since Souness's arrival. Results were not going in United's favour and sports media consistently questioned his position at the club. On 2 February 2006, Souness was sacked as manager by Chairman Freddy Shepard and replaced by United's Youth Academy Director Glenn Roeder
.
In the club's DVD season review for the 2005–06 season, goalkeeper Shay Given
and defender Robbie Elliott
, acknowledged that Souness was under pressure at the club as a result of injuries to the squad and admitted that some players were to blame for their lack of all round effort, but also admitted there was a bad atmosphere at the training ground, with Souness seeming to favour some players over others. Alan Shearer
acknowledged that the fans never really accepted Souness, as well as several injuries being instrumental in damaging the team's confidence. Chairman Freddy Shepard declared that it was the team's formation and loss against Manchester City F.C.
that promoted his decision to sack Souness.
In May 2008, Souness was named by Observer Sport Monthly as the 'Worst Football Manager', citing his failings at Newcastle and Liverpool as the main reasons.
was raided by the City of London Police
, who were investigating transfer deals involving Newcastle, Rangers
and Portsmouth
. Two Souness transfers, Jean-Alain Boumsong
and Amdy Faye, were among a list of 17 transfers that were not cleared by Quest. The Boumsong deal in particular was so odd that it was widely commented upon at the time. Four months after succeeding Sir Bobby Robson
as manager, Souness was in his first transfer window as Newcastle manager. At £8.2m, Boumsong was his first big signing and Souness said he would replace Jonathan Woodgate
in the Newcastle defence, which had conceded several leads earlier in the season. Newcastle were well aware of Boumsong prior to his move from Auxerre to Rangers on a free transfer. Robson had travelled to France to watch him, but he declined the opportunity to sign Boumsong. Liverpool were also interested in signing Boumsong. Robson's doubts were confirmed when Boumsong marked Alan Shearer
in a pre-season game against Rangers
. Shearer came off to speak in dismissive terms about the Frenchman's lack of physique, and he later mentioned Boumsong's previous availability on a free transfer on television. When Boumsong was given a torrid time by DJ Campbell during his Newcastle debut against Yeading
in the FA Cup
, doubts over the wisdom of the transfer mushroomed. The agent in the Boumsong and Faye transfers was Willie McKay
. On 7 November 2007, Quest issued the following statement about McKay's dealings:
and on their highlights show Premier Soccer Saturday
, covering the English Premier League. He is also regularly seen covering RTE's coverage of Republic of Ireland football internationals. Souness contributed to RTÉ Sport
's coverage of the 2010 FIFA World Cup
, alongside John Giles
, Eamon Dunphy
, Liam Brady
, Ronnie Whelan
, Denis Irwin
, Ossie Ardiles and Dietmar Hamann
for the duration of the Group Stages. During analysis of the game between Ghana and Serbia on Sunday 13 June 2010, Souness made a controversial rape
comment involving Nemanja Vidić
and Fernando Torres
live on air, commenting "Vidic got raped..... sorry, taken apart by Torres at Liverpool", that forced RTÉ to censor Souness and publicly apologise after a commercial break.
Elsewhere, Souness works with Sky Sports
as a pundit, principally on coverage of the Champions League
., however, he has regularly stated that he prefers working with RTE
, due to their "call it like it is" approach to football.. Souness also worked with Al Jazeera Sports
in South Africa for their coverage of the 2010 FIFA World Cup
knockout stages.
, Simon Jordan
claimed he wished to discuss with Souness a role in managing the club following the departure of Iain Dowie
. His arrival however never materialised.
He looked to be the front runner for the Bolton Wanderers
manager's job following the departure of his former Liverpool team-mate Sammy Lee
in October 2007 but later pulled out of the running when it became apparent that the job was set to be given to Gary Megson
.
In January 2008, Souness announced he would be willing to return to Newcastle United as manager, following the departure of Sam Allardyce
and the arrival of the club's new ownership and board. However, United only interviewed Harry Redknapp
and Kevin Keegan
for the position, with Kevin Keegan soon after being appointed with the job; Souness's interest has never been publicly acknowledged by the club.
Following the sacking of Blackburn Rovers manager Paul Ince
on 16 December 2008, Souness was heavily linked with a return to the club as manager. However, Sam Allardyce was appointed as the new manager on 17 December, after Souness claimed to have had no contact at all from Blackburn about the position.
Following the sacking of Middlesbrough
manager Gareth Southgate
on 21 October 2009, Souness was one of the names linked with the vacant manager's position. Gordon Strachan
became the new manager.
Having been linked with the Scotland national football team
in November 2009, Souness stated he has no desire to return to management at any level.
initially denied this offer, but Souness insisted to the Express & Star
newspaper that he had made an offer for the club. The bid was rejected by the Wolves board, who felt it undervalued the club. Souness did not make a repeat offer for the club and it was later sold to another investor.
called No Half Measures. In 1999 he wrote another book chronicling his post-playing career up to and including his spell at Southampton, entitled Souness: The Management Years.
In 1982, Souness and team-mate Sammy Lee
made cameo appearances, as themselves, in an episode of the BBC's
Liverpudlian drama series Boys From The Blackstuff
. Written by Alan Bleasdale
, the series offered a critique of Thatcherism
– and in particular the large-scale unemployment then evident in urban Britain – apparently at odds with Souness's own Conservative politics
.
In 2007, in the lead-up to elections to the Scottish Parliament
, Souness was one of 15 prominent current and former footballers named in a newspaper advertisement as opponents of Scottish independence
.
Middlesbrough
Liverpool
Sampdoria
Rangers
(as a player-manager)
(as a player-manager)
Liverpool
Galatasaray
Benfica
Blackburn Rovers
list.
A poll of 110,000 Liverpool supporters – 100 Players Who Shook The Kop, saw Souness placed the ninth most popular player in the club's history.
Souness was inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame
in 2007 in recognition of his contribution to the game
Souness is one of 71 players elected to Rangers' official Hall of Fame
.
Souness is one of 24 players qualifying for the Scottish national team Hall of Fame
.
Souness was the captain of the successful Liverpool
Liverpool F.C.
Liverpool Football Club is an English Premier League football club based in Liverpool, Merseyside. Liverpool has won eighteen League titles, second most in English football, seven FA Cups and a record seven League Cups...
team of the early 1980s and player-manager of Rangers in the late 1980s as well as captain of the Scottish national team
Scotland national football team
The Scotland national football team represents Scotland in international football and is controlled by the Scottish Football Association. Scotland are the joint oldest national football team in the world, alongside England, whom they played in the world's first international football match in 1872...
. He also played for Tottenham Hotspur
Tottenham Hotspur F.C.
Tottenham Hotspur Football Club , commonly referred to as Spurs, is an English Premier League football club based in Tottenham, north London. The club's home stadium is White Hart Lane....
, Middlesbrough
Middlesbrough F.C.
Middlesbrough Football Club , also known as Boro, are an English football club based in Middlesbrough, who play in the Football League Championship. Formed in 1876, they have played at the Riverside Stadium since August 1995, their third ground since turning professional in 1889...
and Sampdoria
U.C. Sampdoria
Unione Calcio Sampdoria is an Italian association football club based in Genoa. The club was formed in 1946 from the merger of two existing sports clubs whose roots can be traced back to the 1890s, Sampierdarenese and Andrea Doria...
in a long career. Following his retirement from playing he worked as a manager, with Rangers, Liverpool
Liverpool F.C.
Liverpool Football Club is an English Premier League football club based in Liverpool, Merseyside. Liverpool has won eighteen League titles, second most in English football, seven FA Cups and a record seven League Cups...
, Southampton
Southampton F.C.
Southampton Football Club is an English football team, nicknamed The Saints, based in the city of Southampton, Hampshire. The club gained promotion to the Championship from League One in the 2010–2011 season after being relegated in 2009. Their home ground is the St Mary's Stadium, where the club...
, Benfica, Galatasaray
Galatasaray S.K. (football team)
Galatasaray Anonim Şirketi is a Turkish football club, part of the Galatasaray S.K. multi-sport club of Istanbul. Galatasaray is a major sports club in Turkey, holding 17 Turkish Super League titles and the highest number of Turkish Cups....
, Blackburn Rovers
Blackburn Rovers F.C.
Blackburn Rovers Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of Blackburn, Lancashire. The team currently competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football....
and Newcastle United
Newcastle United F.C.
Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional association football club based in Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End and Newcastle West End, and has played at its current home ground, St James' Park, since the merger...
.
Souness now does media work and divides his time working for RTE
RTE
RTÉ is the abbreviation for Raidió Teilifís Éireann, the public broadcasting service of the Republic of Ireland.RTE may also refer to:* Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, 25th Prime Minister of Turkey...
in Ireland, ESPN
ESPN
Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....
, Sky Sports
Sky Sports
Sky Sports is the brand name for a group of sports-oriented television channels operated by the UK and Ireland's main satellite pay-TV company, British Sky Broadcasting. Sky Sports is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland...
and Al Jazeera Sports
Al Jazeera Sports
Al Jazeera Sports is a popular Arabic-language sports channel launched in November 2003 by the well-known Al Jazeera network.Al Jazeera Sports also owns the exclusive broadcasting rights in the Middle East for major football leagues, such as the Spanish La Liga, the French Ligue 1 and the Italian...
.
Early career
Souness was brought up in the SaughtonSaughton
Saughton is a suburb of the west of Edinburgh, Scotland, bordering on Sighthill, Longstone, and Stenhouse. In Scots, a "sauch" is a willow...
Mains area of Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
, and supported local side Hearts
Heart of Midlothian F.C.
Heart of Midlothian Football Club are a Scottish professional football club based in Gorgie, in the west of Edinburgh. They currently play in the Scottish Premier League and are one of the two principal clubs in the city, the other being Hibernian...
and Rangers
Rangers F.C.
Rangers Football Club are an association football club based in Glasgow, Scotland, who play in the Scottish Premier League. The club are nicknamed the Gers, Teddy Bears and the Light Blues, and the fans are known to each other as bluenoses...
. As with other tough-tackling Scottish midfielders such as Dave Mackay and Billy Bremner
Billy Bremner
William John "Billy" Bremner was a Scottish professional footballer, most noted for his captaincy of the Leeds United team of the 1960s and 1970s. He has since been voted Leeds United's greatest player of all time and has a statue outside the South East corner of Elland Road...
, journalists have regularly attributed Souness's rumbustious playing style to his modest upbringing. As a teenager Souness played for local boys' club North Merchiston
Shandon, Edinburgh
Shandon is an area of Edinburgh within North Merchiston approximately three miles west of the centre of Edinburgh. It is bounded by Slateford Road to the north, Harrison Road to the east, the Union Canal to the south and the Glasgow-Edinburgh and Suburban rail lines to the west.- Etymology :Harris...
.
Souness's career began as an apprentice at Tottenham Hotspur
Tottenham Hotspur F.C.
Tottenham Hotspur Football Club , commonly referred to as Spurs, is an English Premier League football club based in Tottenham, north London. The club's home stadium is White Hart Lane....
under Bill Nicholson
Bill Nicholson (footballer)
William Edward "Bill" Nicholson OBE was an English football player, coach, manager and scout who devoted his life to Tottenham Hotspur in North London.-Early life:...
. He signed professional forms as a 15 year-old in 1968. Frustrated at a lack of first team opportunities, the teenage Souness reputedly informed Nicholson that he was the best player at the club. Souness made one solitary appearance for Spurs in the UEFA cup as a substitute.
During the summer of 1972, Souness played in the North American Soccer League
North American Soccer League
North American Soccer League was a professional soccer league with teams in the United States and Canada that operated from 1968 to 1984.-History:...
for the Montreal Olympique
Montreal Olympique
Montreal Olympique were a soccer team based out of Montreal that played in the NASL. They played from 1971 to 1973. Their home field was Autostade.-Year-by-year:...
. He appeared in 10 of his team’s 14 games, and was named in the league’s All-Star team for that season.
Back in England, Souness had played just once for Spurs prior to a £30,000 move to Middlesbrough
Middlesbrough F.C.
Middlesbrough Football Club , also known as Boro, are an English football club based in Middlesbrough, who play in the Football League Championship. Formed in 1876, they have played at the Riverside Stadium since August 1995, their third ground since turning professional in 1889...
in 1972. His debut came on 6 January 1973 in a 2–1 league defeat to Fulham
Fulham F.C.
Fulham Football Club is a professional English Premier League club based in southwest London Fulham, in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham. Founded in 1879, they play in the Premier League, their 11th current season...
at Craven Cottage
Craven Cottage
Craven Cottage is the name of a football stadium in the Hammersmith and Fulham area that has been the home ground of the association football team Fulham F.C. since 1896....
. His first goal came on 11 December 1973 in a 3–0 league victory over Preston North End
Preston North End F.C.
Preston North End Football Club is an English professional football club located in the Deepdale area of the city of Preston, Lancashire, currently playing in the third tier of English league football, League One...
at Ayresome Park
Ayresome Park
-External links:**-References:...
.
Souness's tenacious style began to garner increasing acclaim during his time at Middlesbrough. His first season saw Middlesbrough finish fourth, two places and 14 points short of promotion. In May 1973, the recently retired Jack Charlton
Jack Charlton
John "Jack" Charlton, OBE, DL is a former footballer and manager who played for Leeds United in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, and was part of the England team who won the 1966 World Cup...
was appointed to his first managerial post. Promotion as champions of the Second Division followed. Souness's growing influence was demonstrated in a hat-trick
Hat-trick
A hat-trick or hat trick in sport is the achievement of a positive feat three times during a game, or other achievements based on threes. The term was first used in 1858 in cricket to describe HH Stephenson's feat of taking three wickets in three balls. A collection was held for Stephenson, and he...
in the season's final fixture, an 8–0 victory over Sheffield Wednesday
Sheffield Wednesday F.C.
Sheffield Wednesday Football Club are a football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, who are currently competing in the Football League One in the 2011-12 season, in England. Sheffield Wednesday are one of the oldest professional clubs in the world and the fourth oldest in the...
.
Liverpool
Souness's playing career is best remembered for his seven seasons at LiverpoolLiverpool F.C.
Liverpool Football Club is an English Premier League football club based in Liverpool, Merseyside. Liverpool has won eighteen League titles, second most in English football, seven FA Cups and a record seven League Cups...
, where he won five League Championships, three European Cup
UEFA Champions League
The UEFA Champions League, known simply the Champions League and originally known as the European Champion Clubs' Cup or European Cup, is an annual international club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations since 1955 for the top football clubs in Europe. It...
s and four League Cups
Football League Cup
The Football League Cup, commonly known as the League Cup or, from current sponsorship, the Carling Cup, is an English association football competition. Like the FA Cup, it is played on a knockout basis...
.
His time at Anfield
Anfield
Anfield is an association football stadium in the district of Anfield, Liverpool, England, with a seating capacity of 45,522. It has been the home of Liverpool F.C. since their formation in 1892 and was originally the home of Everton F.C. from 1884 to 1892, before they moved to Goodison Park...
began in 1978 as a replacement for veteran Ian Callaghan
Ian Callaghan
Ian Robert Callaghan MBE is a former Liverpool footballer who holds the record for most appearances for the club.-Life and playing career:...
. After winning his first European Cup
European Cup 1976-77
The 1976–77 season of the European Cup football club tournament was won for the first time by Liverpool in the final against Borussia Mönchengladbach. Three-time defending champions Bayern Munich were knocked out by Dynamo Kyiv in the quarter-finals. It was only the second time an English side won...
in 1977, Liverpool manager Bob Paisley
Bob Paisley
Robert "Bob" Paisley OBE was an English football half back turned manager. His association with Liverpool was to span nearly half a century including his contribution to the club, first as a player, then as a physiotherapist and coach, and finally as manager.In nine years as manager between 1974...
sought reinforcements by signing three Scottish players, all of whom were to contribute substantially to further success. Central defender Alan Hansen
Alan Hansen
Alan David Hansen is a Scottish former football player and BBC television football pundit. He played as a central defender for Partick Thistle, Liverpool and Scotland...
arrived from Partick Thistle
Partick Thistle F.C.
Partick Thistle Football Club are a professional association football club from Glasgow. Despite their name, the club are based in the Maryhill area of the city, and have not played in Partick since 1908...
for £110,000. Kenny Dalglish
Kenny Dalglish
Kenneth Mathieson "Kenny" Dalglish MBE is a Scottish former footballer and the current manager of Liverpool F.C.. In a 22-year playing career, he played for two club teams, Celtic and Liverpool, winning numerous honours with both. He is the most capped Scottish player, with 102 appearances, and...
– an established Scottish international – signed from Celtic
Celtic F.C.
Celtic Football Club is a Scottish football club based in the Parkhead area of Glasgow, which currently plays in the Scottish Premier League. The club was established in 1887, and played its first game in 1888. Celtic have won the Scottish League Championship on 42 occasions, most recently in the...
for a then British record fee of £440,000. Souness formed the final part of the Scottish triumvirate, leaving Middlesbrough in acrimonious circumstances for a club-record fee of £350,000 on 10 January 1978.
Souness's Liverpool debut came in a 1–0 league victory over West Bromwich Albion
West Bromwich Albion F.C.
West Bromwich Albion Football Club, also known as West Brom, The Baggies, The Throstles, Albion or WBA, are an English Premier League association football club based in West Bromwich in the West Midlands...
at The Hawthorns
The Hawthorns
The Hawthorns is an all-seater football stadium in West Bromwich, Sandwell, England, with a capacity of 26,484. It has been the home of West Bromwich Albion F.C. since 1900, when it became the sixth ground to be used by the club. The ground was the last Football League ground to be built in the...
on 14 January 1978. His first goal – a characteristic volley just inside the penalty box, eventually awarded fans' goal of the season – came in a 3–1 win over bitter rivals Manchester United
Manchester United F.C.
Manchester United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, that plays in the Premier League. Founded as Newton Heath LYR Football Club in 1878, the club changed its name to Manchester United in 1902 and moved to Old Trafford in 1910.The 1958...
at Anfield on 25 February 1978.
Souness played a critical role in Liverpool's retention of the European Cup against FC Bruges
Club Brugge
Club Brugge Koninklijke Voetbalvereniging is a football club from Bruges in Belgium. It was founded in 1891 and is one of the top clubs in Belgium. Its home ground is the Jan Breydel Stadium, which has a capacity of 29,472....
at Wembley, providing the pass for Dalglish to score the game's only goal.
Sustained success followed. Souness's first League title medals were won in seasons 1978–79
1978-79 in English football
-FA Cup:Manchester United had seemingly pulled off a remarkable comeback against Arsenal in the 1979 FA Cup Final to make the score 2–2 after being two goals down, but a last-minute goal from Alan Sunderland saw Arsenal lift the trophy with a 3–2 scoreline...
and 1979–80
1979-80 in English football
The 1979–80 season was the 100th season of competitive football in England.- FA Cup :Second Division West Ham United, managed by John Lyall, won the FA Cup, beating Arsenal 1–0 with a Trevor Brooking goal...
. A second European Cup
European Cup 1980-81
The 1980–81 season of the European Cup football club tournament was won for a third time by Liverpool in the final against Real Madrid. In the 11 seasons up to and including this one, there were only four winners of the European Cup , but there were eleven different runners-up...
medal for Souness arrived in 1981 with a 1–0 victory over Real Madrid
Real Madrid
Real Madrid Club de Fútbol , commonly known as Real Madrid, is a professional football club based in Madrid, Spain. The club have won a record 31 La Liga titles, the Primera División of the Liga de Fútbol Profesional , 18 Copas del Rey, 8 Spanish Super Cups, 1 Copa Eva Duarte and 1 Copa de la...
– the culmination of a campaign in which Souness scored a hat-trick in the quarter-final against CSKA Sofia.
This burst of success prompted Paisley to award Souness the club captaincy for season 1981–82
1981-82 in English football
The 1981–82 season was the 102nd season of competitive football in England.It was also the first season that the Three points for a win system was introduced.- First Division :Three points for a win was introduced for the first time in England...
, to the chagrin of the incumbent Phil Thompson
Phil Thompson
Philip Bernard Thompson is a retired English footballer, who played as a defender for Liverpool team of the 1970s and 1980s. During this time, he also represented the England national football team on 42 occasions...
who had made some errors that season and Paisley had a viscious row with during one match at Aston Villa. Thompson initally refused to speak to Souness claiming he had "stolen the captaincy" from behind his back. This was the start of several long running feuds between the two robust characters and over the coming years they would confront each other in various circumstances. Under Souness's captaincy, two trophies followed as Liverpool regained the League championship and retained the League Cup – trophies that were successfully defended in season 1982–83
1982-83 in English football
The 1982–83 season was the 103rd season of competitive football in England.- First Division :Bob Paisley's last season as Liverpool manager ended on a high as they topped the First Division with a comfortable lead. Bob Paisley retired as Liverpool manager with a record 21 prizes in nine years. His...
. Souness relinquished his right as captain to lift the League Cup at Wembley after the 2–1 win over Manchester United in 1983, insisting that Paisley collected the trophy in his retirement season.
In 1983–84
1983-84 in English football
The 1983–84 season was the 104th season of competitive football in England.- First Division :Liverpool had a great first season under the management of Joe Fagan as they wrapped up their third successive league title and the 15th in their history...
, Souness lifted three trophies as Liverpool again retained the League title and League Cup, with Souness scoring the winning goal in the replayed final of the latter against rivals Everton - the first all-Merseyside
Merseyside derby
The Merseyside derby is the name given to any football match contested between Everton and Liverpool football clubs, the two most successful clubs from the city of Liverpool in England...
cup final.
The European Cup
European Cup 1983-84
The season 1983–84 of the European Cup football club tournament was won by for a fourth time by Liverpool in a penalty shootout in the final against Roma. The game had finished 1–1. Phil Neal had scored for Liverpool and Roberto Pruzzo for Roma...
was regained after a penalty shoot-out win over AS Roma
A.S. Roma
Associazione Sportiva Roma, commonly referred to as simply Roma, is a professional Italian football club based in Rome. Founded by a merger in 1927, Roma have participated in the top-tier of Italian football for all of their existence but one season in the early 50s...
, with Souness scoring one of the penalties in the shootout.
Souness's Liverpool career ended in 1984 after 358 appearances and 56 goals.
Career in Italy
Souness left Liverpool in 1984, joining SampdoriaU.C. Sampdoria
Unione Calcio Sampdoria is an Italian association football club based in Genoa. The club was formed in 1946 from the merger of two existing sports clubs whose roots can be traced back to the 1890s, Sampierdarenese and Andrea Doria...
for a fee of £650,000. Souness and England international Trevor Francis
Trevor Francis
Trevor John Francis , is a former footballer who won the European Cup with Nottingham Forest and played for England 52 times. He was England's first £1 million player...
– a player at the Genoa
Genoa
Genoa |Ligurian]] Zena ; Latin and, archaically, English Genua) is a city and an important seaport in northern Italy, the capital of the Province of Genoa and of the region of Liguria....
-based club since 1982 – added experience to an emerging group of future Italian internationals, including Roberto Mancini
Roberto Mancini
Roberto Mancini is an Italian football manager, formerly an international player and current manager of Premier League club Manchester City.As a player Mancini was best known for his time at Sampdoria, where he played more than 550 matches, and helped them win the Serie A league title, four Coppa...
, Pietro Vierchowod
Pietro Vierchowod
Pietro Vierchowod is an Italian former footballer turned coach.Vierchowod was nicknamed the zar because he was the son of a Ukrainian Red Army soldier. Vierchowod was a man-marker ....
and Gianluca Vialli
Gianluca Vialli
Gianluca Vialli is an Italian football manager and former player. Since retiring, he has gone into management and punditry and is a commentator for Sky Sport Italia....
. In his first season, Sampdoria won the Coppa Italia
Coppa Italia
The Coppa Italia is an Italian football annual cup competition. Its first edition was held in 1922, but the second champions were not crowned until 1936. Roma and Juventus lead the way with nine wins. Roma has contested more finals, 16, while Torino and Juventus follow with 13...
with a 3–1 victory over Serie A
Serie A
Serie A , now called Serie A TIM due to sponsorship by Telecom Italia, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and has been operating for over eighty years since 1929. It had been organized by Lega Calcio until 2010, but a new...
rivals AC Milan
A.C. Milan
Associazione Calcio Milan, commonly referred to as A.C. Milan or simply Milan , is a professional Italian football club based in Milan, Lombardy, that plays in the Serie A. Milan was founded in 1899 by English lace-maker Herbert Kilpin and businessman Alfred Edwards among others...
, securing the trophy for the first time in the club's history.
Souness's career in Italy ended in 1986 as he took up the position of player-manager at Rangers
Rangers F.C.
Rangers Football Club are an association football club based in Glasgow, Scotland, who play in the Scottish Premier League. The club are nicknamed the Gers, Teddy Bears and the Light Blues, and the fans are known to each other as bluenoses...
, making a further 50 league appearances before retiring as a player in 1991 at the age of 38.
International career
While a Middlesbrough player, Souness received his first international cap for ScotlandScotland national football team
The Scotland national football team represents Scotland in international football and is controlled by the Scottish Football Association. Scotland are the joint oldest national football team in the world, alongside England, whom they played in the world's first international football match in 1872...
on 30 October 1974 in a 3–0 friendly victory over East Germany
East Germany national football team
The East Germany national football team was from 1952 to 1990 the football team of East Germany, playing as one of three post-war German teams, along with Saarland and West Germany....
at Hampden Park
Hampden Park
Hampden Park is a football stadium in the Mount Florida area of Glasgow, Scotland. The 52,063 capacity venue serves as the national stadium of football in Scotland...
. By the time Souness was selected by manager Ally McLeod for the Scotland squad for the World Cup
1978 FIFA World Cup
The 1978 FIFA World Cup, the 11th staging of the FIFA World Cup, was held in Argentina between 1 June and 25 June. The 1978 World Cup was won by Argentina who beat the Netherlands 3–1 after extra time in the final. This win was the first World Cup title for Argentina, who became the fifth...
in Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
in 1978, however, he had been awarded only six caps. His move to Liverpool, and a greatly increased profile, saw growing demands for the award of regular place.
A defeat and a draw in Scotland's first two World Cup group games against Peru
Peru national football team
The Peru national football team, known as 'el equipo inca', represents Peru in international football competition and is managed by the Peruvian Football Federation . The team competes against the other nine members of FIFA's CONMEBOL conference, which encompasses the countries of South America...
and Iran
Iran national football team
The national football team of Iran represents Iran in international football competitions and is controlled by the Football Federation Islamic Republic of Iran...
saw calls for Souness, recovered from injury, to play in the critical final group match against the Netherlands
Netherlands national football team
The Netherlands National Football Team represents the Netherlands in association football and is controlled by the Royal Dutch Football Association , the governing body for football in the Netherlands...
. Replacing an established midfield, Souness contributed to a 3–2 victory that nevertheless saw Scotland eliminated from the tournament on goal difference.
Souness played in two further World Cups. The first, in 1982
1982 FIFA World Cup
The 1982 FIFA World Cup, the 12th FIFA World Cup, was held in Spain from 13 June to 11 July. The tournament was won by Italy, after defeating West Germany 3–1 in the final.-Host selection:...
in Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
, saw Souness play all three group games. His first international goal arrived in the final match prior to elimination, a 2–2 draw with the Soviet Union
USSR national football team
The Soviet Union National Football Team was the national football team of the Soviet Union. It ceased to exist after the break up of the Union...
in Malaga.
A final World Cup appearance came in 1986
1986 FIFA World Cup
The 1986 FIFA World Cup, the 13th FIFA World Cup, was held in Mexico from 31 May to 29 June. The tournament was the second to feature a 24-team format. Colombia had been originally chosen to host the competition by FIFA but, largely due to economic reasons, was not able to do so and officially...
in Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
, at a time when Souness had already been appointed Rangers player-manager. Souness played in defeats to Denmark
Denmark national football team
The Denmark national football team represents Denmark in association football and is controlled by the Danish Football Association , the governing body for the football clubs which are organized under DBU...
and West Germany
Germany national football team
The Germany national football team is the football team that has represented Germany in international competition since 1908. It is governed by the German Football Association , which was founded in 1900....
. He was omitted by caretaker manager Alex Ferguson
Alex Ferguson
Sir Alexander Chapman "Alex" Ferguson, CBE is a Scottish association football manager and former player, currently managing Manchester United, where he has been in charge since 1986...
for Scotland's final game against Uruguay
Uruguay national football team
The Uruguayan national football team represents Uruguay in international association football and is controlled by the Uruguayan Football Association, the governing body for football in Uruguay. The current head coach is Óscar Tabárez...
, apparently due to his poor physical condition after the previous two matches where he had lost much fluid and weight. In Souness's autobiography, The Management Years he claims this was the first and only time in his whole career, including at schoolboy level, he had ever been dropped for a football match. Ferguson was unusually apologetic and was very respectful and diplomatic in his conversation with Souness at night when he broke the news to him, as he held Souness in high regard.
Souness's Scotland career ended after the World Cup after 54 appearances and four goals in almost 12 years.
Club career statistics
|-|1971/72||Tottenham Hotspur
Tottenham Hotspur F.C.
Tottenham Hotspur Football Club , commonly referred to as Spurs, is an English Premier League football club based in Tottenham, north London. The club's home stadium is White Hart Lane....
||First Division
Football League Championship
The Football League Championship is the highest division of The Football League and second-highest division overall in the English football league system after the Premier League...
||0||0||||||||||||||||
|-
|1972||Montreal Olympique
Montreal Olympique
Montreal Olympique were a soccer team based out of Montreal that played in the NASL. They played from 1971 to 1973. Their home field was Autostade.-Year-by-year:...
||NASL
North American Soccer League
North American Soccer League was a professional soccer league with teams in the United States and Canada that operated from 1968 to 1984.-History:...
||10||2||||||||||||||||
|-
|1972/73||rowspan="6"|Middlesbrough
Middlesbrough F.C.
Middlesbrough Football Club , also known as Boro, are an English football club based in Middlesbrough, who play in the Football League Championship. Formed in 1876, they have played at the Riverside Stadium since August 1995, their third ground since turning professional in 1889...
||rowspan="2"|Second Division
Football League One
Football League One is the second-highest division of The Football League and third-highest division overall in the English football league system....
||9||0||||||||||||||||
|-
|1973/74||35||7||||||||||||||||
|-
|1974/75||rowspan="4"|First Division
Football League Championship
The Football League Championship is the highest division of The Football League and second-highest division overall in the English football league system after the Premier League...
||38||7||||||||||||||||
|-
|1975/76||35||3||||||||||||||||
|-
|1976/77||38||2||||||||||||||||
|-
|1977/78||19||3||||||||||||||||
|-
|1977/78||rowspan="7"|Liverpool
Liverpool F.C.
Liverpool Football Club is an English Premier League football club based in Liverpool, Merseyside. Liverpool has won eighteen League titles, second most in English football, seven FA Cups and a record seven League Cups...
||rowspan="7"|First Division
Football League Championship
The Football League Championship is the highest division of The Football League and second-highest division overall in the English football league system after the Premier League...
||15||2||||||||||||||||
|-
|1978/79||41||8||||||||||||||||
|-
|1979/80||41||1||||||||||||||||
|-
|1980/81||37||6||||||||||||||||
|-
|1981/82||35||5||||||||||||||||
|-
|1982/83||41||9||||||||||||||||
|-
|1983/84||37||7||||||||||||||||
|-
|1984/85||rowspan="2"|Sampdoria
U.C. Sampdoria
Unione Calcio Sampdoria is an Italian association football club based in Genoa. The club was formed in 1946 from the merger of two existing sports clubs whose roots can be traced back to the 1890s, Sampierdarenese and Andrea Doria...
||rowspan="2"|Serie A
Serie A
Serie A , now called Serie A TIM due to sponsorship by Telecom Italia, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and has been operating for over eighty years since 1929. It had been organized by Lega Calcio until 2010, but a new...
||28||5||||||||||||||||
|-
|1985/86||28||3||||||||||||||||
|-
|1986/87||rowspan="4"|Rangers
Rangers F.C.
Rangers Football Club are an association football club based in Glasgow, Scotland, who play in the Scottish Premier League. The club are nicknamed the Gers, Teddy Bears and the Light Blues, and the fans are known to each other as bluenoses...
||rowspan="4"|Premier Division
Scottish Premier League
The Scottish Premier League , also known as the SPL , is a professional league competition for association football clubs in Scotland...
||25||1||||||||||||||||
|-
|1987/88||18||2||||||||||||||||
|-
|1988/89||6||0||||||||||||||||
|-
|1989/90||1||0||||||||||||||||
421||60||||||||||||||||
10||2||||||||||||||||
56||8||||||||||||||||
50||3||||||||||||||||
537||73||||||||||||||||
|}
International career statistics
|-|1974||2||0
|-
|1975||1||0
|-
|1976||0||0
|-
|1977||0||0
|-
|1978||6||0
|-
|1979||6||0
|-
|1980||3||0
|-
|1981||4||0
|-
|1982||9||1
|-
|1983||8||1
|-
|1984||4||1
|-
|1985||7||0
|-
|1986||4||1
|-
!Total||54||4
|}
Rangers
Souness was appointed Rangers'Rangers F.C.
Rangers Football Club are an association football club based in Glasgow, Scotland, who play in the Scottish Premier League. The club are nicknamed the Gers, Teddy Bears and the Light Blues, and the fans are known to each other as bluenoses...
first player-manager in April 1986, signing from Sampdoria for a fee of £300,000 and succeeding Jock Wallace
Jock Wallace
John "Jock" Martin Bokas Wallace was a professional Scottish football player and manager. His father, Jock Wallace, Sr., was a goalkeeper for Raith Rovers, Blackpool and Derby County....
. Financed initially by the club's then owner, Lawrence Marlborough, Souness and club chairman David Holmes
David Holmes (businessman)
David Holmes is a Scottish businessman. He is best known as a former chairman and chief executive of Rangers football club.Holmes was appointed a director of Rangers in November 1985 by the club's then majority shareholder, the Nevada-based businessman Lawrence Marlborough, head of the Lawrence...
embarked upon a bold strategy of reclaiming the footballing ascendancy that Rangers had been desperately seeking in Scotland after years in the wilderness due to the dominance of arch-rivals, Celtic
Celtic F.C.
Celtic Football Club is a Scottish football club based in the Parkhead area of Glasgow, which currently plays in the Scottish Premier League. The club was established in 1887, and played its first game in 1888. Celtic have won the Scottish League Championship on 42 occasions, most recently in the...
, and the emergence of the 'New Firm'
New Firm (Scotland)
The New Firm was the short-lived term used, during the 1980s, to describe the rivalry between Scottish football clubs Aberdeen and Dundee United...
of Aberdeen
Aberdeen F.C.
Aberdeen Football Club are a Scottish professional football club based in Aberdeen...
and Dundee United
Dundee United F.C.
Dundee United Football Club is a Scottish professional football club located in the city of Dundee. Formed in 1909, originally as Dundee Hibernian, the club changed to the present name in 1923...
.
What came popularly to be termed the 'Souness Revolution' began with a slew of major signings from English clubs. Significantly, this reversed the historic pattern of Scotland's most able footballers playing in England. Souness's first season saw the arrival of players such as Terry Butcher
Terry Butcher
Terence Ian "Terry" Butcher is an English football manager and former player. He was a highly successful football player and made his name as an uncompromising defender with Ipswich Town and Rangers in the 1980s. He was also a captain of England and won 77 caps in a ten-year international career...
, captain of Ipswich Town
Ipswich Town F.C.
Ipswich Town Football Club are an English professional football team based in Ipswich, Suffolk. As of 2011, they play in the Football League Championship, having last appeared in the Premier League in 2001–02....
and an established England international, and Chris Woods
Chris Woods
Christopher 'Chris' Charles Eric Woods is a former England international football goalkeeper, who played in the Football League and Premier League for Queens Park Rangers, Norwich City, Sheffield Wednesday, Reading, Southampton and Burnley, in the Scottish Football League for Rangers, and in Major...
of Norwich City
Norwich City F.C.
Norwich City Football Club is an English professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk. As of the 2011–12 season, Norwich City are again playing in the Premier League after a six-year absence, having finished as runner up in the Championship in 2010–11 and winning automatic promotion.The...
, England's second-choice goalkeeper. Subsequent seasons saw the arrival of other English internationals, such as Trevor Steven
Trevor Steven
Trevor McGregor Steven is a football talent scout. He was formerly an England footballer who shot to fame with the successful Everton side of the 1980s....
, Gary Stevens
Gary Stevens
Gary Michael Stevens is a retired English footballer who is best remembered playing in defence for a successful Everton side of the 1980s, as well as for the England national football team....
, Trevor Francis
Trevor Francis
Trevor John Francis , is a former footballer who won the European Cup with Nottingham Forest and played for England 52 times. He was England's first £1 million player...
and Ray Wilkins
Ray Wilkins
Raymond Colin Wilkins MBE , often known as "Butch" Wilkins, is an English former footballer and at present a television pundit...
. Souness was able to offer the lure of European club competition, at a time – 1985–90 – when English clubs were banned from Europe in the wake of the Heysel Stadium disaster
Heysel Stadium disaster
The Heysel Stadium disaster occurred on 29 May 1985 when escaping fans were pressed against a wall in the Heysel Stadium in Brussels, Belgium, as a result of rioting before the start of the 1985 European Cup Final between Liverpool of England and Juventus of Italy...
. Rangers profited from this by embarking upon a signing policy which drew on their relative wealth to compete, for the first time, directly with England's most powerful clubs.
Souness's revitalised Rangers quickly began to dominate Scottish football. In his first season, 1986–87
1986-87 in Scottish football
The 1986–87 season was the 90th season of competitive football in Scotland.-Notable events:In the first full season under the management of player-manager Graeme Souness, Rangers won their first league title since 1978, and also won the League Cup....
they won the Championship and the League Cup, beating Celtic 2–1 in the final. Two more Championships were to follow, this time in successive seasons (1988–89
1988-89 in Scottish football
The 1988–89 season was the 92nd season of competitive football in Scotland.-Notable events:Rangers regained their league title and retained the League Cup, but defeat by Celtic in the Scottish Cup final ended their hopes of a domestic treble....
and 1989–90
1989-90 in Scottish football
The 1989–90 season was the 93rd season of competitive football in Scotland.-Notable events:Rangers won their third league title in four seasons under the management of Graeme Souness....
), and a further two League Cup victories, over Aberdeen 3–2 in 1988–89 and Celtic 2–1 in 1990–91
1990-91 in Scottish football
The 1990–91 season was the 94th season of competitive football in Scotland. It was notable for the fact that there was a last day title decider at Ibrox between Rangers and Aberdeen. Both teams went into the match level on points and goal difference, but Rangers needed to win the match...
. Souness left Rangers, to take over as manager of Liverpool, in 1991, replaced by his assistant, Walter Smith, four games prior to the end of what was to become another championship-winning season.
Souness's time at Ibrox was marked by persistent controversy. His most noteworthy act was the controversial signing of Mo Johnston
Mo Johnston
Maurice John Giblin "Mo" Johnston is a former football striker.Johnston began his football career with Partick Thistle in 1981 before moving to Watford in 1983. With Watford Johnston scored 23 league goals, made his international debut, and helped the team reach the 1984 FA Cup Final...
in 1989. Rangers – historically a team supported by Protestants – were widely held to have implemented for most of the 20th century a policy of refusing to sign Roman Catholics. Although several previous Rangers players came from Catholic backgrounds (including, at the time of Johnston's signing, John Spencer
John Spencer (footballer)
John Spencer is the head coach for Portland Timbers of Major League Soccer. Spencer is a former professional football player, who represented Scotland at international level...
), their religious background was not made public and none of them were high-profile players. Johnston's arrival at Ibrox was significant because it signaled a very public end to a discriminatory signing policy. It was also significant because Johnston, a former Celtic player and coveted Scottish international, had days earlier at a press conference at Celtic Park
Celtic Park
Celtic Park is a football stadium in the Parkhead area of Glasgow, which is the home ground of Celtic FC. Celtic Park, an all-seater stadium with a capacity of 60,832, is the largest football stadium in Scotland and the sixth-largest stadium in the United Kingdom, after Murrayfield, Old Trafford,...
publicly announced his decision to return to his former club. After he left Rangers, Souness suggested bigotry "will always be at Ibrox".
Further controversy centred on Souness's dealings with the Scottish Football Association
Scottish Football Association
The Scottish Football Association is the governing body of football in Scotland and has the ultimate responsibility for the control and development of football in Scotland. Members of the SFA include clubs in Scotland, affiliated national associations as well as local associations...
and Scottish League hierarchies. A succession of confrontational after-match comments pitched Souness regularly at loggerheads with both organisations, prompting touchline bans which Souness circumvented in characteristically provocative fashion by naming himself as a substitute, allowing access as a player to the dugout. Souness was later to claim that conflict with officialdom was one of the principal factors precipitating his departure from Ibrox.
Souness's appointment as Rangers' manager garnered most attention, but his arrival as a player was also of significance. Souness arrived at Ibrox with a reputation as one of Europe's leading midfielders – a view evidenced by his success at Liverpool and, to a lesser extent, with Sampdoria. His signing was unusual in that Scottish clubs had rarely been able to sign top-quality internationals, including Scots, from other leagues.
Souness's playing career at Ibrox began inauspiciously. His competitive debut – in the opening game of the 1986–87 season, against Hibernian
Hibernian F.C.
Hibernian Football Club are a Scottish professional football club based in Leith, in the north of Edinburgh. They are one of two Scottish Premier League clubs in the city, the other being their Edinburgh derby rivals, Hearts...
in his hometown of Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
– saw him sent off after two yellow cards in the first 34 minutes. Souness later self-deprecatingly argued that his second booking, for a foul on George McCluskey
George McCluskey
George McKinley Cassidy McCluskey is a Scottish former association football player for clubs including Celtic and Leeds United. He finished as the top scorer in the Scottish Football League Premier Division in the 1981–82 season....
, had been awarded because "my boot ran up his leg!" Disciplinary problems – something that had recurred periodically throughout Souness's career – resurfaced on a number of occasions during his time as a player at Rangers.
Souness made 49 appearances for Rangers. Much of his time as player was blighted by injury. His final appearance as a player was at Ibrox in a 2–0 victory over Dunfermline Athletic
Dunfermline Athletic F.C.
Dunfermline Athletic Football Club are a Scottish football team based in Dunfermline, Fife, commonly known as just Dunfermline. They currently compete in the Scottish Premier League....
in Rangers' last home game of the 1989–90 season, when he brought himself on for the final 20 minutes.
Liverpool
Kenny DalglishKenny Dalglish
Kenneth Mathieson "Kenny" Dalglish MBE is a Scottish former footballer and the current manager of Liverpool F.C.. In a 22-year playing career, he played for two club teams, Celtic and Liverpool, winning numerous honours with both. He is the most capped Scottish player, with 102 appearances, and...
, who had played alongside Souness at Liverpool, resigned as Liverpool manager in February 1991 after five and a half seasons in charge, during which the club had been league champions three times and FA Cup winners twice (including double winners
The Double
The Double is a term in association football which refers to winning a country's top tier division and its primary cup competition in the same season...
in 1986) and had never finished lower than runners-up in the league. Coach Ronnie Moran
Ronnie Moran
Ronnie Moran is a former Liverpool captain and coach, who has twice served as caretaker manager...
was put in temporary charge following Dalglish's sudden resignation on 22 February, but on 15 April it was reported that Souness had been made an offer by the Liverpool board to return to the club as manager. He accepted the offer was unveiled as the club's new manager the following day on a five-year contract.
The three years which followed were uneventful for Souness and relatively disastrous for Liverpool
Liverpool F.C.
Liverpool Football Club is an English Premier League football club based in Liverpool, Merseyside. Liverpool has won eighteen League titles, second most in English football, seven FA Cups and a record seven League Cups...
. There was little success on the field, with only a 2–0 victory in the 1992 FA Cup
FA Cup
The Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the FA Cup, is a knockout cup competition in English football and is the oldest association football competition in the world. The "FA Cup" is run by and named after The Football Association and usually refers to the English men's...
final over Second Division Sunderland
Sunderland A.F.C.
Sunderland Association Football Club is an English association football club based in Sunderland, Tyne and Wear who currently play in the Premier League...
, but poor tactics, ill-judged transfer dealings and poor man management brought one of the bleakest spells in the history of one of Europe's
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
most successful clubs of all time.
His appointment came just before Liverpool finished second to Arsenal
Arsenal F.C.
Arsenal Football Club is a professional English Premier League football club based in North London. One of the most successful clubs in English football, it has won 13 First Division and Premier League titles and 10 FA Cups...
in the race for the 1990–91
1990-91 in English football
The 1990–91 season was the 111th season of competitive football in England.- First Division :Arsenal won the league. Runners-up spot was achieved by Liverpool, who had led the table for much of the first half of the season but had been shell-shocked in February by the sudden resignation of manager...
league title. He made a major reorganisation of the squad for the following season, bringing in Dean Saunders
Dean Saunders
Dean Nicholas Saunders is a former Wales international footballer who played as a striker in a professional career which lasted from 1982 until 2001. He is the manager of Doncaster Rovers....
for a national record of £2.9million as well as defenders Mark Wright and Rob Jones and midfielder Mark Walters
Mark Walters
Mark Everton Walters is a retired professional footballer from Birmingham, England.-Aston Villa:Walters began his career as an apprentice at Aston Villa on leaving school in the summer of 1980, turning the professional a year later - just after Villa's Football League First Division title triumph...
. He also gave a regular place in the team to 19-year-old midfielder Steve McManaman
Steve McManaman
Steven McManaman is a retired English footballer who played as a midfielder, winger and playmaker. Having spent his playing career at two of European football's most successful clubs of the 20th century, Liverpool and Real Madrid, as well as a spell at Manchester City, McManaman is the most...
, whose debut had come under Kenny Dalglish in December 1990, and near the end of that campaign he gave a professional contract to a highly promising youth team striker called Robbie Fowler
Robbie Fowler
Robert Bernard Fowler is an English footballer who is currently player/manager for Thai Premier League club Muangthong United....
. During the first stages of the 1991–92 season
1991-92 in English football
- First Division :The last-ever league championship before the creation of the Premier League was won by Leeds United who overhauled Manchester United thanks to the efforts of, among others, Gordon Strachan, Lee Chapman, David Batty, Gary Speed and Gary McAllister...
, Liverpool were looking like serious title contenders, but it soon became an effective two-horse race between Manchester United
Manchester United F.C.
Manchester United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, that plays in the Premier League. Founded as Newton Heath LYR Football Club in 1878, the club changed its name to Manchester United in 1902 and moved to Old Trafford in 1910.The 1958...
and Leeds United
Leeds United A.F.C.
Leeds United Association Football Club are an English professional association football club based in Beeston, Leeds, West Yorkshire, who play in the Football League Championship, the second tier of the English football league system...
, eventually being won by the team from West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire is a metropolitan county within the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England with a population of 2.2 million. West Yorkshire came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972....
, while Liverpool came sixth – the FA Cup win being their consolation. They also returned to European competition that season after six years of isolation following the Heysel disaster of 1985, and reached the UEFA Cup
UEFA Cup
The UEFA Europa League is an annual association football cup competition organised by UEFA since 1971 for eligible European football clubs. It is the second most prestigious European club football contest after the UEFA Champions League...
quarter finals where they were eliminated by Genoa
Genoa
Genoa |Ligurian]] Zena ; Latin and, archaically, English Genua) is a city and an important seaport in northern Italy, the capital of the Province of Genoa and of the region of Liguria....
of Italy.
Souness later claimed in his autobiography, The Management Years that he faced an uphill struggle from day one for a number of reasons. The majority of key players were around or over the age of 30 such as Ian Rush, John Barnes, Peter Beardsley, Steve Mcmahon, Ray Houghton, Jan Molby, Ronnie Whelan, Steve Nicol, Bruce Grobbelaar of whom many had testimonials during his time in charge. He knew they had eventually to be replaced and he doubted some of their desire. He claims in his book the senior pros also appeared not to want to listen to him and may have resented his disciplinarian approach to their behaviour, and also claimed a number of players including Beardsley and Mcmahon demanded improved terms on their contracts or they would move elsewhere. In the end Beardsley, Mcmahon, and Houghton were sold, admittingly too early on before replacements were found and these key components of Kenny Dalglish's last great side were never really ever replaced. Ian Rush and Ray Houghton had also demanded to know why new signings like Mark Wright were earning more money than them despite yet having won anything. Souness also claims Chairman Peter Robinson at the time had warned him this was a Liverpool team in decline and that they only had one player who was still great, John Barnes
John Barnes (footballer)
John Charles Bryan Barnes MBE is an English football manager and former player.During his playing career, Barnes had successful periods at Watford and Liverpool in the 1980s and 1990s, winning the First Division twice, the FA Cup twice, and playing for England 79 times...
. Souness was left disappointed by Barnes as he was at this time frequently suffering from injuries around this time, and in particular suffered a ruptured achilles tendon which was to eventually affect his acceleration therefore affecting his playing style, and not giving Souness what he wanted from a vintage Barnes at his peak which was what he saw as a "devastating winger with pace and goalscoring touch." he had also claimed that Barnes was once the "best player in Britain" but unfortunately only saw flashes of his brilliance.
Rumours about squabbles in the dressing room between the players and Souness were rife, with Ian Rush famously telling a Sky Sports
Sky Sports
Sky Sports is the brand name for a group of sports-oriented television channels operated by the UK and Ireland's main satellite pay-TV company, British Sky Broadcasting. Sky Sports is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland...
interviewer that 'teacups being thrown' were nothing new. One of the few successes, barring the FA Cup triumph, that Souness enjoyed while manager of Liverpool was the fact that he had blooded several new prodigious young talents like Steve McManaman
Steve McManaman
Steven McManaman is a retired English footballer who played as a midfielder, winger and playmaker. Having spent his playing career at two of European football's most successful clubs of the 20th century, Liverpool and Real Madrid, as well as a spell at Manchester City, McManaman is the most...
and Robbie Fowler
Robbie Fowler
Robert Bernard Fowler is an English footballer who is currently player/manager for Thai Premier League club Muangthong United....
allowing them to play and develop in the first team. Both went on to be highly successful for both club and country.
Souness had major heart surgery in April 1992, and led his players out at Wembley for the FA Cup final
FA Cup Final
The FA Cup Final, commonly referred to in England as just the Cup Final, is the last match in the Football Association Challenge Cup. With an official attendance of 89,826 at the 2007 FA Cup Final, it is the fourth best attended domestic club championship event in the world and the second most...
just days after leaving hospital. But there had been controversy over the semi-final against Portsmouth
Portsmouth F.C.
Portsmouth Football Club is an English football club based in the city of Portsmouth. The club is nicknamed Pompey. Portsmouth's home matches have been played at Fratton Park since the club's formation in 1898. The team currently play in the Football League Championship after being relegated from...
, which Liverpool needed a replay and penalties to win.
In the event of a victory for Liverpool, an interview was due to be published in the Sun
The Sun (newspaper)
The Sun is a daily national tabloid newspaper published in the United Kingdom and owned by News Corporation. Sister editions are published in Glasgow and Dublin...
, a British tabloid, with Souness celebrating the win and his own successful surgery. The photograph which accompanied the interview was of Souness, in his hospital ward, kissing his girlfriend with joy at his own recovery and his team's win.
The interview was due to go in alongside the match report on 14 April 1992 but the late end to the game meant that the deadline for publication was missed and the report, with interview and photograph, went in on 15 April instead – the third anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster
Hillsborough disaster
The Hillsborough disaster was a human crush that occurred on 15 April 1989 at Hillsborough, a football stadium, the home of Sheffield Wednesday F.C. in Sheffield, England, resulting in the deaths of 96 people, and 766 being injured, all fans of Liverpool F.C....
, which had claimed the lives of 95 fans (a 96th victim
Tony Bland
Anthony David Bland was a supporter of Liverpool F.C. injured in the Hillsborough disaster. He suffered severe brain damage that left him in a persistent vegetative state whereby the hospital, with the support of his parents, applied for a court order allowing him to 'die with dignity'...
would die in 1993, having never regained consciousness).
Liverpool fans reacted with fury after seeing that the interview was conducted with the Sun
The Sun (newspaper)
The Sun is a daily national tabloid newspaper published in the United Kingdom and owned by News Corporation. Sister editions are published in Glasgow and Dublin...
– a newspaper which had been boycotted by many people in Liverpool for the intervening years over its reporting of the events at Hillsborough. Although he apologised profusely at the time, Souness has since said that he probably should have resigned there and then. Media reports on 8 February 2011 showed, that Souness finally felt contrite enough to publicly apologise to all Liverpool fans for the badly-timed Sun interview, nearly 20 years after it had happened.
1992–93
1992-93 in English football
The 1992–1993 season was the 113th season of competitive football in England.-Overview:This season saw the birth of the FA Premier League. This meant a break-up of the 104-year-old Football League that had operated until then with four divisions....
was even more frustrating. Just after the start of the season, he sold Dean Saunders
Dean Saunders
Dean Nicholas Saunders is a former Wales international footballer who played as a striker in a professional career which lasted from 1982 until 2001. He is the manager of Doncaster Rovers....
to Aston Villa
Aston Villa F.C.
Aston Villa Football Club is an English professional association football club based in Witton, Birmingham. The club was founded in 1874 and have played at their current home ground, Villa Park, since 1897. Aston Villa were founder members of The Football League in 1888. They were also founder...
. While Saunders was a key player in Villa's near-successful title challenge, his successor Paul Stewart proved to be perhaps the biggest flop to play under Souness at Liverpool, scoring just one league goal from 32 appearances over the next two seasons and missing countless games through injury. Ian Rush
Ian Rush
Ian James Rush, MBE, is a retired football player from Flint, Wales. He is best remembered as a player for Liverpool, where he was among the top strikers in the English game in the 1980s and 1990s. He also had spells playing at Chester City, Juventus, Leeds United, Newcastle United, Sheffield...
was having a torrid time in front of goal, and Liverpool spent most of the season in the bottom half of the table. They entered March still only in 15th place, but an excellent final quarter of the season – in which Rush scored 11 Premier League goals – saw them finish sixth.
The fans were running out of patience with Souness, but he made one last attempt at revitalising Liverpool by signing defender Julian Dicks
Julian Dicks
Julian Andrew Dicks , is a retired football player and manager, last attached to Isthmian League Division One North club Grays Athletic.-Playing career:...
and striker Nigel Clough
Nigel Clough
Nigel Howard Clough is an English former footballer and the current manager of Derby County. Playing predominately as a striker, but later in his career was used as a midfielder, Clough was capped by England 14 times in the early 1990s....
for the 1993-94 season
1993-94 in English football
The 1993-1994 season was the 114th season of competitive football in England.-Overview:From the start of this season, the FA Premier League would be sponsored by Carling Breweries - an association which would last for eight years...
. The season began well enough, but a dismal run of form in early winter effectively ended hopes of the Premier League title and Souness was sacked at the end of January 1994 when Liverpool had suffered a shock FA Cup exit at the hands of Bristol City
Bristol City F.C.
Bristol City Football Club is one of two football league clubs in Bristol, England . They play at Ashton Gate, located in the south-west of the City...
. He was succeeded by coach Roy Evans
Roy Evans
Roy Evans CBE was a Liverpool football player who eventually rose through the coaching ranks to become team manager.-Career:...
.
Souness's reign as Liverpool manager was not remembered with fondness by the club's fans, though there were some positive events. Apart from guiding them to FA Cup glory in 1992, he also oversaw the breakthrough of three young players who would go on to be a key part in Liverpool's better performances over the next five years – Steve McManaman, Robbie Fowler and Jamie Redknapp
Jamie Redknapp
Jamie Frank Redknapp is a retired English footballer who was active from 1989 until 2005. He is now a football pundit with Sky Sports, and an editorial columnist with the Daily Mail....
. In 1992, he had also brought in David James
David James (footballer)
David Benjamin James is an English footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Bristol City.On 14 February 2009, he achieved the all-time Premier League appearance record with 536 appearances, overtaking Gary Speed. He held this record until being overtaken by Ryan Giggs on the 14th May 2011...
as an eventual successor to Bruce Grobbelaar
Bruce Grobbelaar
Bruce David Grobbelaar is a former football goalkeeper and manager.He played for a number of clubs in a career which spanned for more than 20 years at professional level, most notably Liverpool during their dominant period in the 1980s and early 1990s.-Early years:In his teenage years, Grobbelaar...
(who finally left in 1994) and although the player's fortunes at Anfield
Anfield
Anfield is an association football stadium in the district of Anfield, Liverpool, England, with a seating capacity of 45,522. It has been the home of Liverpool F.C. since their formation in 1892 and was originally the home of Everton F.C. from 1884 to 1892, before they moved to Goodison Park...
were mixed, he later went on to enjoy better fortunes elsewhere and was still keeping goal for England
England national football team
The England national football team represents England in association football and is controlled by the Football Association, the governing body for football in England. England is the joint oldest national football team in the world, alongside Scotland, whom they played in the world's first...
at the end of the following decade as he approached his 40th birthday.
Souness also fell out with fellow Anfield legends and former team mates Tommy Smith and Phil Thompson around this time. In his autobiography he claims Thompson, the reserve team mamager was overheard angrily criticising his tactics and purchases behind his back, which was overheard by Manchester United Assistant Manager Brian Kidd and relayed to Walter Smith who was so alarmed by Thompson's behaviour that he drove from Scotland to Liverpool to tell Souness what had been said. Souness dismissed Thompson as a result and the two have remained bitter towards each other since. Souness claimed that they had a number of spats as players, including Thompson refusing to speak to Souness for a while after Thompson lost the captaincy to Souness in 1981, and an argument and fight which took place after Thompson had accused Souness of marrying his first wife only because she was wealthy. Souness believed these incidents may have contributed to Thompson's dislike and disrespect of him. Tommy Smith had been criticising Souness in the local media at the time, and he had also been caught hanging around with the players and coaches at Anfield despite no longer having an official position at the club. Souness banned Smith from the club areas, and said that in his last phonecall with Tommy Smith instructing him not to hang around the official club areas, he was certain he had "made an enemy for life".
Galatasaray
After leaving Liverpool, Souness was out of work for over a year, despite reports at the end of the 1993-94 season1993-94 in English football
The 1993-1994 season was the 114th season of competitive football in England.-Overview:From the start of this season, the FA Premier League would be sponsored by Carling Breweries - an association which would last for eight years...
linking him with a return to Middlesbrough as manager - a job which went to Bryan Robson
Bryan Robson
Bryan Robson OBE is an English football manager and a former player. He is best known for playing in midfield for Manchester United, where he was the longest serving captain in club history. He was the manager of Sheffield United, being relieved of his first team duties at the club in February 2008...
instead.
He went to manage Galatasaray
Galatasaray S.K. (football team)
Galatasaray Anonim Şirketi is a Turkish football club, part of the Galatasaray S.K. multi-sport club of Istanbul. Galatasaray is a major sports club in Turkey, holding 17 Turkish Super League titles and the highest number of Turkish Cups....
in Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
in June 1995, and again managed to court controversy with local issues – nearly sparking a riot after placing a large Galatasaray flag into the centre circle of the pitch of arch rivals Fenerbahçe after Galatasaray had beaten them in the Turkish Cup final on 24 April 1996. The iconic image of the victor planting the flag drew comparisons with Turkish hero Ulubatli Hasan
Ulubatli Hasan
Ulubatlı Hasan was a Timarli Sipâhî in the service of Sultan Mehmed II of the Ottoman Empire who achieved legendary status as a heroic Turkish martyr at the successful Siege of Constantinople....
, who was killed as he planted the Ottoman
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
flag at the end of the Siege of Constantinople. This earned Souness the nickname 'Ulubatlı Souness'.
Southampton
Souness then returned to England to manage SouthamptonSouthampton F.C.
Southampton Football Club is an English football team, nicknamed The Saints, based in the city of Southampton, Hampshire. The club gained promotion to the Championship from League One in the 2010–2011 season after being relegated in 2009. Their home ground is the St Mary's Stadium, where the club...
, but after one season he resigned, citing differences with chairman Rupert Lowe
Rupert Lowe
Rupert James Graham Lowe is a British businessman, who was the chairman of Southampton Football Club from 1996 to 2006. He regained his power in May 2008, teaming up with Michael Wilde, who had previously forced Lowe out, becoming chairman of the club's parent company, Southampton Leisure Holdings...
. Probably his most memorable moment with the Saints was signing Senegalese player Ali Dia
Ali Dia
Ali Dia is a former professional Senegalese footballer who once played for the English FA Premier League club Southampton after falsely claiming to be a cousin of Liberian international George Weah.- Career :...
, supposedly on the recommendation of former FIFA World Player of the Year
FIFA World Player of the Year
The FIFA World Player of the Year was an association football award given annually to the male and female player who were thought to be the best in the world, based on votes by coaches and captains of international teams...
and former Liberian
Liberia national football team
The Liberia national football team, nicknamed the Lone Stars, is the national team of Liberia and is controlled by the Liberia Football Association. Although the country produced the 1995 FIFA World Player of the Year, George Weah, they have never reached the World Cup finals...
striker
Striker
Forwards, also known as strikers, are the players on a team in association football who play nearest to the opposing team's goal, and are therefore principally responsible for scoring goals...
George Weah
George Weah
George Tawlon Manneh Oppong Ousman Weah is a Liberian humanitarian and politician, and an ex-footballer. He ran unsuccessfully for president in the 2005 election, losing to Ellen Johnson Sirleaf in the second round of voting...
. Souness did not check any of Dia's supposed credentials, and this subsequently proved to be a hoax, instigated by Dia's agent (who had made the initial call). When Dia played his only game in the Premier League as a substitute for Matt Le Tissier
Matthew Le Tissier
Matthew "Matt" Le Tissier is a retired English footballer who played for Southampton and England.An attacking midfielder with exceptional technical skills, Le Tissier is the second-highest ever scorer for Southampton behind Mick Channon and was voted PFA Young Player of the Year in 1990. He was...
, he performed amazingly poorly, and was later substituted himself after only 20 minutes on the field.
The Saints managed to avoid relegation from the Premier League in Souness's only season as manager, finishing 16th, but he resigned towards the end of May 1997. Within days it was reported that Everton
Everton F.C.
Everton Football Club are an English professional association football club from the city of Liverpool. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of English football...
, Liverpool's local rivals
Merseyside derby
The Merseyside derby is the name given to any football match contested between Everton and Liverpool football clubs, the two most successful clubs from the city of Liverpool in England...
, were interesting in appointing him as manager to succeed Joe Royle
Joe Royle
Joseph "Joe" Royle is an English football manager. In his club career, he played for Everton , Manchester City, Bristol City, Norwich City, and the England national team...
, but this never happened.
Torino
After his stint at Southampton, Souness went back to Italy to become the coach at TorinoTorino F.C.
Torino Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Torino, is a professional Italian football club based in Turin, Piedmont, that was founded in 1906. The club has spent most of its history in the top tier in Italian football....
. When he arrived it was clear he would have no say in what players he could buy or sell, as the club's owner made those decisions. Souness lasted just four months before being dismissed.
Benfica
In 1997, Souness was signed by S.L. Benfica's new chairman Vale e Azevedo, who promised to return the club to its old glories. The Scottish manager brought several British players from the Premier LeagueFA Premier League
The Premier League is an English professional league for association football clubs. At the top of the English football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with The Football League. The Premier...
(defenders Steve Harkness
Steve Harkness
Steven "Steve" Harkness is a former footballer who played for several clubs, most notably Liverpool.-Playing career:...
and Gary Charles
Gary Charles
Gary Charles is an English former footballer who played at right-back.-Playing career:Charles won two caps for the England team and turned out at club level for Nottingham Forest, Derby County, Aston Villa, S.L. Benfica, and finally West Ham United. Charles was famously fouled by Paul Gascoigne in...
, midfielders Michael Thomas and Mark Pembridge
Mark Pembridge
Mark Anthony Pembridge is a former footballer whose favoured position was the left side of midfield. He won numerous caps for Wales. He is currently a coach at the academy for Fulham.-Club career:...
and forwards Dean Saunders
Dean Saunders
Dean Nicholas Saunders is a former Wales international footballer who played as a striker in a professional career which lasted from 1982 until 2001. He is the manager of Doncaster Rovers....
and Brian Deane
Brian Deane
Brian Christopher Deane is an English former footballer.Signed for £40,000 from Doncaster Rovers in the close season of 1988, Deane first played and scored for Sheffield United in an 8–1 victory against Skegness Town...
) as well as refusing to sign emerging talent Deco
Deco
Anderson Luís de Souza, OIH , commonly known as Deco, is a Brazilian-born Portuguese professional footballer who currently plays for Fluminense....
. After two unsuccessful seasons, Souness was sacked. All of Benfica's British footballers (including the previously signed left-back Scott Minto
Scott Minto
Scott Christopher Minto is an English former footballer who played as a left back in the Football League and the Premier League for Charlton Athletic, Chelsea, West Ham United and Rotherham United, and for Benfica in Portugal...
) also left the club.
Blackburn Rovers
He then became manager of Blackburn RoversBlackburn Rovers F.C.
Blackburn Rovers Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of Blackburn, Lancashire. The team currently competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football....
, earning promotion back to the Premier League in his first full season. During his four year spell at Blackburn he initially got the very best out of talented youngsters such as Damien Duff
Damien Duff
Damien Anthony Duff is an Irish footballer who plays for Premier League team Fulham and the Republic of Ireland national football team. With Ireland he has participated in the 2002 FIFA World Cup and helped his team qualify for UEFA Euro 2012...
, David Dunn
David Dunn
David John Ian Dunn is an English footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for Premier League club Blackburn Rovers.-Blackburn Rovers:...
and Matt Jansen
Matt Jansen
Matthew Brooke "Matt" Jansen is an English footballer, who plays as a striker and currently plays for Chorley. He started his career with hometown club Carlisle United, and also played for Crystal Palace, Blackburn Rovers and Bolton Wanderers as well as a loan spell with Coventry City. He won six...
; brought Henning Berg
Henning Berg
Henning Stille Berg is a Norwegian former football player. He played as a central defender or right-back.He is one of only three players to have won the Premier League with two different clubs, the others being Ashley Cole and Nicolas Anelka .-Club career:Born in Eidsvoll, Berg played for...
back to the club and signed big name players like Andy Cole
Andy Cole
Andrew Alexander Cole is a retired English footballer. He is most well known by the name Andy Cole , but in 2000, he reputedly asked to be known as Andrew Cole...
, Tugay Kerimoğlu
Tugay Kerimoglu
Tugay Kerimoğlu is a Turkish former footballer who played the majority of his career for Galatasaray and Blackburn Rovers. Primarily a deep-lying playmaker in midfield, he was also competent as an attacking midfielder or playing in the holding role.Continually recognised for his ability he was...
, Brad Friedel
Brad Friedel
Bradley Howard Friedel is an American soccer player who plays as a goalkeeper for Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League....
and Dwight Yorke
Dwight Yorke
Dwight Eversley Yorke is a Trinidad and Tobago former football player. He played for Aston Villa for most of his career, followed by stints with Manchester United, Blackburn Rovers, Birmingham City, Sydney FC and Sunderland...
. Cole and Jansen scored in Blackburn's 2–1 League Cup victory over Tottenham Hotspur
Tottenham Hotspur F.C.
Tottenham Hotspur Football Club , commonly referred to as Spurs, is an English Premier League football club based in Tottenham, north London. The club's home stadium is White Hart Lane....
in 2002.
He then guided Blackburn to a top 6 finish before a disappointing final season in 2003–04
2003-04 in English football
The 2003-04 season was the 124th season of competitive football in England.-Overview:Arsenal completed the entire campaign without losing a single league game....
in which the club struggled, although they avoided relegation. After less than one month of the following season many Blackburn fans had begun to express grave doubts in Souness' handling of the club. His authoritarian methods had led to the alienation or departure of Yorke, Cole, Dunn, Gillespie and Berg. He could not be blamed for the long term loss of Matt Jansen
Matt Jansen
Matthew Brooke "Matt" Jansen is an English footballer, who plays as a striker and currently plays for Chorley. He started his career with hometown club Carlisle United, and also played for Crystal Palace, Blackburn Rovers and Bolton Wanderers as well as a loan spell with Coventry City. He won six...
to a motorbike accident or Damien Duff's departure to Chelsea. None of these players however were sufficiently replaced. Vratislav Gresko
Vratislav Greško
Vratislav Greško is a Slovak footballer who currently plays for the 2. liga club ŽP ŠPORT Podbrezová. His preferred position is left-back, although he has also been used as a left-sided midfielder or defender during his career...
, Lorenzo Amoruso
Lorenzo Amoruso
Lorenzo Pier Luigi Amoruso is a former Italian Assocation footballer who played for seven teams during his footballing career but is perhaps best known for his six-year spell with Glasgow side Rangers...
and Corrado Grabbi
Corrado Grabbi
Corrado Grabbi is an Italian football player. He plays as a striker, most recently for Bellinzona.Grabbi began his career with Juventus youth team. He was promoted to first team and scored on his debut against Lazio, in one of his total two appearances in the 1994-1995 season...
were all flops, whilst Steven Reid
Steven Reid
Steven John Reid is an English-born Irish footballer who plays for West Bromwich Albion as a defender, but played most of his career in midfield...
and Brett Emerton
Brett Emerton
Brett Michael Emerton is an Australian football player who plays for Sydney FC and the Australia national team...
were also disappointing – although both shone for Blackburn after Souness' departure.
Newcastle United
Souness left Blackburn in 2004 to become manager of Newcastle UnitedNewcastle United F.C.
Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional association football club based in Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End and Newcastle West End, and has played at its current home ground, St James' Park, since the merger...
.
Despite a promising start to his role with results back to back, Souness quickly fell out with a number of players including Welsh international Craig Bellamy
Craig Bellamy
Craig Douglas Bellamy is a Welsh footballer who plays as a striker for Liverpool and the Welsh national team. Born in Cardiff, Bellamy was the captain of the Welsh national side for four years after taking over from Ryan Giggs in 2007, but stood down in January 2011 due to constant injuries...
who left the club to join Souness's former employers, Blackburn, after being farmed out on loan to Celtic. Laurent Robert
Laurent Robert
Laurent Robert is a former French footballer. He was a left winger, and has played for the French national football team....
, Olivier Bernard
Olivier Bernard
Olivier Bernard is a retired French footballer. He announced his retirement after leaving Newcastle United on 16 May 2007.-Newcastle United:Bernard made his name during his first spell with Newcastle after joining from Lyon...
and Jermaine Jenas
Jermaine Jenas
Jermaine Anthony Jenas is an English footballer who plays for Aston Villa in the Premier League on loan from Tottenham Hotspur. He is of mixed African-Caribbean and English descent.-Nottingham Forest:...
are also believed to have left the club on bad terms with Souness. The team finished 14th in the league and despite making it to the quarter-final of the UEFA Cup
UEFA Cup
The UEFA Europa League is an annual association football cup competition organised by UEFA since 1971 for eligible European football clubs. It is the second most prestigious European club football contest after the UEFA Champions League...
and the semi-final of the FA Cup
FA Cup
The Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the FA Cup, is a knockout cup competition in English football and is the oldest association football competition in the world. The "FA Cup" is run by and named after The Football Association and usually refers to the English men's...
, Souness found himself under mounting pressure from Toon supporters.
Newcastle began the 2005–06 season in poor form but Souness was hoping that the purchase of Michael Owen
Michael Owen
Michael James Owen is an English professional footballer who plays as a striker for Manchester United.The son of former footballer Terry Owen, Owen began his senior career at Liverpool in 1996. He progressed through the Liverpool youth team and scored on his debut in May 1997...
from Real Madrid
Real Madrid
Real Madrid Club de Fútbol , commonly known as Real Madrid, is a professional football club based in Madrid, Spain. The club have won a record 31 La Liga titles, the Primera División of the Liga de Fútbol Profesional , 18 Copas del Rey, 8 Spanish Super Cups, 1 Copa Eva Duarte and 1 Copa de la...
on 30 August for an estimated club-record fee of £17 million would help to turn the club's fortunes around. Newcastle recorded a win in the Tyne-Wear derby
Tyne-Wear derby
The Tyne and Wear derby is a local derby between the association football clubs Newcastle United and Sunderland. The derby is an inter-city rivalry in North East England with the two cities of Newcastle and Sunderland just ten miles apart. The first meeting of the two sides took place in 1883, with...
against Sunderland (3–2), and went on to win their next three games keeping three clean sheets. Souness seemed to be tightening-up Newcastle in defence, with six clean sheets in Newcastle's first 12 games of the season (as many as the whole of the preceding campaign). His decision to reform the former England striker duo Alan Shearer
Alan Shearer
Alan Shearer OBE, DL is a retired English footballer. He played as a striker in the top level of English league football for Southampton, Blackburn Rovers, Newcastle United and for the England national team...
and Michael Owen
Michael Owen
Michael James Owen is an English professional footballer who plays as a striker for Manchester United.The son of former footballer Terry Owen, Owen began his senior career at Liverpool in 1996. He progressed through the Liverpool youth team and scored on his debut in May 1997...
initially appeared shrewd. But to Souness's and the club's misfortune, Michael Owen
Michael Owen
Michael James Owen is an English professional footballer who plays as a striker for Manchester United.The son of former footballer Terry Owen, Owen began his senior career at Liverpool in 1996. He progressed through the Liverpool youth team and scored on his debut in May 1997...
cracked the fifth metatarsal of his right foot when he clashed with England team-mate Paul Robinson
Paul Robinson (goalkeeper)
Paul William Robinson is an English footballer who plays for Blackburn Rovers as a goalkeeper in the Premier League. He had also been an England international and he earned 41 caps between 2003 and 2007 before his retirement from international football in August 2010.He joined Leeds United at 16...
during a 2–0 defeat at Tottenham on 30 December 2005 and was out of action for three months, adding to the club's injury woes.
Criticism of Souness's apparent lack of long term planning centred on a threadbare squad and a consequent vulnerability to injury. Expensive signings such as Jean-Alain Boumsong
Jean-Alain Boumsong
Jean-Alain Boumsong-Somkong is a professional football defender who currently plays for the Greek team Panathinaikos and the French national team.-Early career:...
for £8 million and Albert Luque
Albert Luque
Albert Luque Martos is a Spanish footballer who plays as either a left winger or striker.His 14-year professional career was mainly associated with Mallorca and Deportivo, and he amassed La Liga totals of 245 games and 61 goals over the course of nine seasons...
for £10 million failed to make an impression. By the end of his reign as Newcastle boss, Souness was deeply unpopular with the Newcastle fans, as evidenced by the frequency and vociferousness of "Souness Out" chants. By the beginning of February 2006, Newcastle United were placed 15th in the Premier League table and sliding dangerously towards a relegation battle, despite the spending of £50m since Souness's arrival. Results were not going in United's favour and sports media consistently questioned his position at the club. On 2 February 2006, Souness was sacked as manager by Chairman Freddy Shepard and replaced by United's Youth Academy Director Glenn Roeder
Glenn Roeder
Glenn Victor Roeder is an English football manager and former player, most recently in charge at Norwich City. As a player, Roeder represented England B on 7 occasions...
.
In the club's DVD season review for the 2005–06 season, goalkeeper Shay Given
Shay Given
Séamus John James "Shay" Given is an Irish footballer who plays for Aston Villa and the Republic of Ireland national team as a goalkeeper. He won the PFA's Player of the Year in 2002....
and defender Robbie Elliott
Robbie Elliott
Robert James "Robbie" Elliott is an English former football left back who is currently the strength coach for the United States U-20 men's football team....
, acknowledged that Souness was under pressure at the club as a result of injuries to the squad and admitted that some players were to blame for their lack of all round effort, but also admitted there was a bad atmosphere at the training ground, with Souness seeming to favour some players over others. Alan Shearer
Alan Shearer
Alan Shearer OBE, DL is a retired English footballer. He played as a striker in the top level of English league football for Southampton, Blackburn Rovers, Newcastle United and for the England national team...
acknowledged that the fans never really accepted Souness, as well as several injuries being instrumental in damaging the team's confidence. Chairman Freddy Shepard declared that it was the team's formation and loss against Manchester City F.C.
Manchester City F.C.
Manchester City Football Club is an English Premier League football club based in Manchester. Founded in 1880 as St. Mark's , they became Ardwick Association Football Club in 1887 and Manchester City in 1894...
that promoted his decision to sack Souness.
In May 2008, Souness was named by Observer Sport Monthly as the 'Worst Football Manager', citing his failings at Newcastle and Liverpool as the main reasons.
Stevens inquiry
In the report of the Stevens inquiry into football corruption published in June 2007, Souness was criticised for an apparent lack of consistency:Souness issued a statement denying any wrong-doing:The Stevens inquiry then issued a clarification:In July 2007, Newcastle UnitedNewcastle United F.C.
Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional association football club based in Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End and Newcastle West End, and has played at its current home ground, St James' Park, since the merger...
was raided by the City of London Police
City of London Police
The City of London Police is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement within the City of London, England, including the Middle and Inner Temple. The service responsible for law enforcement within the rest of Greater London is the Metropolitan Police Service, a separate...
, who were investigating transfer deals involving Newcastle, Rangers
Rangers F.C.
Rangers Football Club are an association football club based in Glasgow, Scotland, who play in the Scottish Premier League. The club are nicknamed the Gers, Teddy Bears and the Light Blues, and the fans are known to each other as bluenoses...
and Portsmouth
Portsmouth F.C.
Portsmouth Football Club is an English football club based in the city of Portsmouth. The club is nicknamed Pompey. Portsmouth's home matches have been played at Fratton Park since the club's formation in 1898. The team currently play in the Football League Championship after being relegated from...
. Two Souness transfers, Jean-Alain Boumsong
Jean-Alain Boumsong
Jean-Alain Boumsong-Somkong is a professional football defender who currently plays for the Greek team Panathinaikos and the French national team.-Early career:...
and Amdy Faye, were among a list of 17 transfers that were not cleared by Quest. The Boumsong deal in particular was so odd that it was widely commented upon at the time. Four months after succeeding Sir Bobby Robson
Bobby Robson
Sir Robert William "Bobby" Robson, CBE was an English footballer and manager, who coached seven European clubs and the England national team during his career....
as manager, Souness was in his first transfer window as Newcastle manager. At £8.2m, Boumsong was his first big signing and Souness said he would replace Jonathan Woodgate
Jonathan Woodgate
Jonathan Simon Woodgate is an English footballer who plays for Stoke City in the Premier League.Woodgate started his football career at Leeds United where he established himself in the starting eleven. However, Woodgate was sold to Newcastle United for £9 million in January 2003. He impressed...
in the Newcastle defence, which had conceded several leads earlier in the season. Newcastle were well aware of Boumsong prior to his move from Auxerre to Rangers on a free transfer. Robson had travelled to France to watch him, but he declined the opportunity to sign Boumsong. Liverpool were also interested in signing Boumsong. Robson's doubts were confirmed when Boumsong marked Alan Shearer
Alan Shearer
Alan Shearer OBE, DL is a retired English footballer. He played as a striker in the top level of English league football for Southampton, Blackburn Rovers, Newcastle United and for the England national team...
in a pre-season game against Rangers
Rangers F.C.
Rangers Football Club are an association football club based in Glasgow, Scotland, who play in the Scottish Premier League. The club are nicknamed the Gers, Teddy Bears and the Light Blues, and the fans are known to each other as bluenoses...
. Shearer came off to speak in dismissive terms about the Frenchman's lack of physique, and he later mentioned Boumsong's previous availability on a free transfer on television. When Boumsong was given a torrid time by DJ Campbell during his Newcastle debut against Yeading
Yeading F.C.
Yeading F.C. were an English football club from Yeading in the London Borough of Hillingdon, West London.-Club history:Their roots trace to a youth club formed in Yeading in 1960. However, there was a Victorian amateur team by the same name which folded in the 1920s, so the club's history can be...
in the FA Cup
FA Cup
The Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the FA Cup, is a knockout cup competition in English football and is the oldest association football competition in the world. The "FA Cup" is run by and named after The Football Association and usually refers to the English men's...
, doubts over the wisdom of the transfer mushroomed. The agent in the Boumsong and Faye transfers was Willie McKay
Willie McKay
Willie McKay is a Scottish football agent based in Monaco. He is the agent of many top-level footballers, mainly based in England and France - specifically the Premier League...
. On 7 November 2007, Quest issued the following statement about McKay's dealings:
Media work
Souness regularly appears as a television analyst in Ireland. He primarily features on RTE's live coverage of the Champions LeagueUEFA Champions League
The UEFA Champions League, known simply the Champions League and originally known as the European Champion Clubs' Cup or European Cup, is an annual international club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations since 1955 for the top football clubs in Europe. It...
and on their highlights show Premier Soccer Saturday
Premier Soccer Saturday
Premier Soccer Saturday is the principal weekly club association football programme on RTÉ.It is broadcast on RTÉ Two every Saturday evening between 19:30 and 21:00 and occasionally on Sunday during the English league soccer season, showing highlights of Premier League football matches...
, covering the English Premier League. He is also regularly seen covering RTE's coverage of Republic of Ireland football internationals. Souness contributed to RTÉ Sport
RTÉ Sport
RTÉ Sport is a cross platform, integrated business division of Irish broadcaster Raidió Teilifís Éireann, responsible for the provision of sport coverage on RTÉ Radio, RTÉ Television, and RTÉ.ie....
's coverage of the 2010 FIFA World Cup
2010 FIFA World Cup
The 2010 FIFA World Cup was the 19th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national association football teams. It took place in South Africa from 11 June to 11 July 2010...
, alongside John Giles
Johnny Giles
Michael John "Johnny" Giles is a former association footballer and manager best remembered for his time as a midfielder with Leeds United in the 1960s and 1970s...
, Eamon Dunphy
Eamon Dunphy
Eamon Martin Dunphy is an Irish media personality, radio and television presenter, author, sports pundit, as well as a former professional football player. He is best known as a soccer analyst on Raidió Teilifís Éireann 's coverage of the Premier League and the UEFA Champions League. He was paid...
, Liam Brady
Liam Brady
Liam Brady is a former Irish association football player, and former assistant manager of the Republic of Ireland national football team....
, Ronnie Whelan
Ronnie Whelan
Ronald Andrew "Ronnie" Whelan is a former Irish football midfielder, and sometimes defender, who was an integral part of the dominant Liverpool side of the 1980s...
, Denis Irwin
Denis Irwin
Denis Joseph Irwin is a former Irish football player who is best known for his long and successful stint at Manchester United, where he established himself as one of the most important players in the United team that won a host of domestic and European trophies in his time there between 1990 and...
, Ossie Ardiles and Dietmar Hamann
Dietmar Hamann
Dietmar "Didi" Hamann is a German footballer who was most recently manager at Stockport County. Throughout his career, he has played for Bayern Munich, Newcastle United, Liverpool, and Manchester City primarily in a defensive midfield position. He also spent time at Milton Keynes Dons as a...
for the duration of the Group Stages. During analysis of the game between Ghana and Serbia on Sunday 13 June 2010, Souness made a controversial rape
Rape
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The...
comment involving Nemanja Vidić
Nemanja Vidic
Nemanja Vidić is a Serbian footballer who captains English Premier League club Manchester United. He was part of the Serbia national football team from 2002 to 2011....
and Fernando Torres
Fernando Torres
Fernando José Torres Sanz , nicknamed , is a Spanish footballer who plays for Chelsea and the Spain national team as a striker....
live on air, commenting "Vidic got raped..... sorry, taken apart by Torres at Liverpool", that forced RTÉ to censor Souness and publicly apologise after a commercial break.
Elsewhere, Souness works with Sky Sports
Sky Sports
Sky Sports is the brand name for a group of sports-oriented television channels operated by the UK and Ireland's main satellite pay-TV company, British Sky Broadcasting. Sky Sports is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland...
as a pundit, principally on coverage of the Champions League
UEFA Champions League
The UEFA Champions League, known simply the Champions League and originally known as the European Champion Clubs' Cup or European Cup, is an annual international club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations since 1955 for the top football clubs in Europe. It...
., however, he has regularly stated that he prefers working with RTE
RTE
RTÉ is the abbreviation for Raidió Teilifís Éireann, the public broadcasting service of the Republic of Ireland.RTE may also refer to:* Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, 25th Prime Minister of Turkey...
, due to their "call it like it is" approach to football.. Souness also worked with Al Jazeera Sports
Al Jazeera Sports
Al Jazeera Sports is a popular Arabic-language sports channel launched in November 2003 by the well-known Al Jazeera network.Al Jazeera Sports also owns the exclusive broadcasting rights in the Middle East for major football leagues, such as the Spanish La Liga, the French Ligue 1 and the Italian...
in South Africa for their coverage of the 2010 FIFA World Cup
2010 FIFA World Cup
The 2010 FIFA World Cup was the 19th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national association football teams. It took place in South Africa from 11 June to 11 July 2010...
knockout stages.
Possible returns to management
In June 2006, the chairman of Crystal PalaceCrystal Palace F.C.
Crystal Palace Football Club are an English Football league club based in South Norwood, London. The team plays its home matches at Selhurst Park, where they have been based since 1924. The club currently competes in the second tier of English Football, The Championship.Crystal Palace was formed in...
, Simon Jordan
Simon Jordan
Simon Jordan is an English businessman who made his fortune in the mobile phone industry. In 2000 he purchased Crystal Palace Football Club and remained chairman of the club until they entered administration in early 2010....
claimed he wished to discuss with Souness a role in managing the club following the departure of Iain Dowie
Iain Dowie
Iain Dowie is a former footballer and manager. He is currently without a club. He has previously managed Hull City and Queens Park Rangers and was assistant manager of Newcastle United...
. His arrival however never materialised.
He looked to be the front runner for the Bolton Wanderers
Bolton Wanderers F.C.
Bolton Wanderers Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the area of Horwich in the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester. They began their current spell in the Premier League in 2001....
manager's job following the departure of his former Liverpool team-mate Sammy Lee
Sammy Lee (footballer)
Samuel "Sammy" Lee is an English football coach and former player. He played most of his career for hometown club Liverpool during the 1970s and 1980s as a midfielder, and also represented England fourteen times....
in October 2007 but later pulled out of the running when it became apparent that the job was set to be given to Gary Megson
Gary Megson
Gary John Megson is an English former football player and is currently manager of Sheffield Wednesday.He has previously managed Norwich City, Blackpool, Stockport County, Stoke City, West Bromwich Albion, Nottingham Forest, Leicester City and Bolton Wanderers...
.
In January 2008, Souness announced he would be willing to return to Newcastle United as manager, following the departure of Sam Allardyce
Sam Allardyce
Samuel "Sam" Allardyce , nicknamed "Big Sam", is an English football manager and former professional player. In June 2011 he was appointed as manager of West Ham United....
and the arrival of the club's new ownership and board. However, United only interviewed Harry Redknapp
Harry Redknapp
Henry James "Harry" Redknapp is a former English footballer who has enjoyed a long career in football management starting in 1983 with Bournemouth. He is the current manager of Tottenham Hotspur....
and Kevin Keegan
Kevin Keegan
Joseph Kevin Keegan, OBE is a former international footballer and former manager of the England national football team and several English clubs, most notably Newcastle United....
for the position, with Kevin Keegan soon after being appointed with the job; Souness's interest has never been publicly acknowledged by the club.
Following the sacking of Blackburn Rovers manager Paul Ince
Paul Ince
Paul Emerson Carlyle Ince is an English football manager and a former professional player. He has managed Blackburn Rovers, Milton Keynes Dons and Macclesfield Town...
on 16 December 2008, Souness was heavily linked with a return to the club as manager. However, Sam Allardyce was appointed as the new manager on 17 December, after Souness claimed to have had no contact at all from Blackburn about the position.
Following the sacking of Middlesbrough
Middlesbrough F.C.
Middlesbrough Football Club , also known as Boro, are an English football club based in Middlesbrough, who play in the Football League Championship. Formed in 1876, they have played at the Riverside Stadium since August 1995, their third ground since turning professional in 1889...
manager Gareth Southgate
Gareth Southgate
Gareth Southgate in Crawley, West Sussex is a retired English footballer and ex-manager. He is known as the "Penalty Misser of '96." He served as manager of Middlesbrough from June 2006, until he was dismissed in October 2009...
on 21 October 2009, Souness was one of the names linked with the vacant manager's position. Gordon Strachan
Gordon Strachan
Gordon David Strachan OBE is a Scottish football manager and former player. He is currently without a club, having last managed Middlesbrough. Strachan played for Dundee, Aberdeen, Manchester United, Leeds United and Coventry City, as well as the Scotland national team. Prior to Middlesbrough,...
became the new manager.
Having been linked with the Scotland national football team
Scotland national football team
The Scotland national football team represents Scotland in international football and is controlled by the Scottish Football Association. Scotland are the joint oldest national football team in the world, alongside England, whom they played in the world's first international football match in 1872...
in November 2009, Souness stated he has no desire to return to management at any level.
Potential career as a football club owner
Souness has been reportedly looking to purchase and run a football club. In January 2007, he was reported by the Daily Mirror to be heading a £20million consortium to take over Wolverhampton Wanderers. He attended a Wolves game as a VIP guest, and made a formal offer for the club, asking to see the club's finances. Wolves' chief executive Jez MoxeyJez Moxey
Jeremy Derek "Jez" Moxey is the Chief executive officer of Premier League football club Wolverhampton Wanderers.-Career:Moxey, a basketball player in his youth, ran a sports marketing business, a basketball franchise, spent five years as general manager of Partick Thistle F.C., and worked with...
initially denied this offer, but Souness insisted to the Express & Star
Express & Star
The Express & Star is an evening newspaper based in Wolverhampton, England, published Monday to Saturday in nine different editions covering the Black Country, Birmingham and the wider West Midlands area from Tamworth to Kidderminster. It as widely perceived as being moderately right-wing...
newspaper that he had made an offer for the club. The bid was rejected by the Wolves board, who felt it undervalued the club. Souness did not make a repeat offer for the club and it was later sold to another investor.
Biographies
In 1985, Souness wrote an autobiographyAutobiography
An autobiography is a book about the life of a person, written by that person.-Origin of the term:...
called No Half Measures. In 1999 he wrote another book chronicling his post-playing career up to and including his spell at Southampton, entitled Souness: The Management Years.
Private life
Souness has been married to Karen Souness, his second wife, since 1994. Together, the couple have a son, James. Souness also has three children – Chantelle, Fraser and Jordan – from his previous marriage and two stepchildren – Daniel and Lauren – from Karen's previous relationship. Lauren works at al-Jazeera as a sports presenter.Political views
Souness's political views have, at various points in his career, generated comment.In 1982, Souness and team-mate Sammy Lee
Sammy Lee (footballer)
Samuel "Sammy" Lee is an English football coach and former player. He played most of his career for hometown club Liverpool during the 1970s and 1980s as a midfielder, and also represented England fourteen times....
made cameo appearances, as themselves, in an episode of the BBC's
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
Liverpudlian drama series Boys From The Blackstuff
Boys from the Blackstuff
Boys from the Blackstuff is a British television drama series of five episodes, originally transmitted from 10 October to 7 November 1982 on BBC2....
. Written by Alan Bleasdale
Alan Bleasdale
Alan Bleasdale is an English television dramatist, best known for writing several social realist drama serials based on the lives of ordinary people.The Bleasdales live in prescot,liverpool,wales and london.-Early life:Bleasdale is an only child; his father worked in a food factory and his mother...
, the series offered a critique of Thatcherism
Thatcherism
Thatcherism describes the conviction politics, economic and social policy, and political style of the British Conservative politician Margaret Thatcher, who was leader of her party from 1975 to 1990...
– and in particular the large-scale unemployment then evident in urban Britain – apparently at odds with Souness's own Conservative politics
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
.
In 2007, in the lead-up to elections to the Scottish Parliament
Scottish Parliament
The Scottish Parliament is the devolved national, unicameral legislature of Scotland, located in the Holyrood area of the capital, Edinburgh. The Parliament, informally referred to as "Holyrood", is a democratically elected body comprising 129 members known as Members of the Scottish Parliament...
, Souness was one of 15 prominent current and former footballers named in a newspaper advertisement as opponents of Scottish independence
Scottish independence
Scottish independence is a political ambition of political parties, advocacy groups and individuals for Scotland to secede from the United Kingdom and become an independent sovereign state, separate from England, Wales and Northern Ireland....
.
As a player
Tottenham HotspurTottenham Hotspur F.C.
Tottenham Hotspur Football Club , commonly referred to as Spurs, is an English Premier League football club based in Tottenham, north London. The club's home stadium is White Hart Lane....
- FA Youth CupFA Youth CupThe Football Association Youth Challenge Cup is an English football competition run by The Football Association for under–18 sides. Only those players between the age of 15 and 18 on 31 August of the current season are eligible to take part...
winners: 1969
Middlesbrough
Middlesbrough F.C.
Middlesbrough Football Club , also known as Boro, are an English football club based in Middlesbrough, who play in the Football League Championship. Formed in 1876, they have played at the Riverside Stadium since August 1995, their third ground since turning professional in 1889...
- Football League Second DivisionFootball League Second DivisionFrom 1892 until 1992, the Football League Second Division was the second highest division overall in English football.This ended with the creation of the FA Premier League, prior to the start of the 1992–93 season, which caused an administrative split between The Football League and the teams...
winners: 1973–74
Liverpool
Liverpool F.C.
Liverpool Football Club is an English Premier League football club based in Liverpool, Merseyside. Liverpool has won eighteen League titles, second most in English football, seven FA Cups and a record seven League Cups...
- League ChampionshipFootball League First DivisionThe First Division was a division of The Football League between 1888 and 2004 and the highest division in English football until the creation of the Premier League in 1992. The secondary tier in English football has since become known as the Championship....
winners: 1978–79, 1979–80, 1981–82, 1982–83 & 1983–84 - League Championship runners–up: 1977–78
- European CupUEFA Champions LeagueThe UEFA Champions League, known simply the Champions League and originally known as the European Champion Clubs' Cup or European Cup, is an annual international club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations since 1955 for the top football clubs in Europe. It...
winners: 1977–78, 1980–81 & 1983–84 - League CupFootball League CupThe Football League Cup, commonly known as the League Cup or, from current sponsorship, the Carling Cup, is an English association football competition. Like the FA Cup, it is played on a knockout basis...
winners: 1981, 1982, 1983 & 1984 - Charity Shield winners: 1980, 1981 & 1983
- Charity Shield runners–up: 1984
- European Super CupEuropean Super CupThe UEFA Super Cup is an annual football game between the reigning champions of the two cup competitions organized by UEFA: the UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Europa League...
runners–up: 1979 - Intercontinental CupIntercontinental Cup and FIFA Club World Championship statisticsStatistics for the Intercontinental Cup which ran from 1960 to 2004.-Finals:-By country:-By team:-By continent:-Man of the Match:Since 1980-See also:*Intercontinental Cup*Copa Libertadores*UEFA Champions League...
runners–up: 1982
Sampdoria
U.C. Sampdoria
Unione Calcio Sampdoria is an Italian association football club based in Genoa. The club was formed in 1946 from the merger of two existing sports clubs whose roots can be traced back to the 1890s, Sampierdarenese and Andrea Doria...
- Coppa ItaliaCoppa ItaliaThe Coppa Italia is an Italian football annual cup competition. Its first edition was held in 1922, but the second champions were not crowned until 1936. Roma and Juventus lead the way with nine wins. Roma has contested more finals, 16, while Torino and Juventus follow with 13...
winners: 1985
Rangers
Rangers F.C.
Rangers Football Club are an association football club based in Glasgow, Scotland, who play in the Scottish Premier League. The club are nicknamed the Gers, Teddy Bears and the Light Blues, and the fans are known to each other as bluenoses...
(as a player-manager)
- Scottish League ChampionshipScottish football championsThe Scottish football champions are the winners of the highest league in Scottish football, namely the Scottish Football League from 1890 until 1998 and the Scottish Premier League thereafter....
winners: 1986–87, 1988–89, 1989–90 - Scottish League CupScottish League CupThe Scottish League Cup is a football competition open to all Scottish Football League and Scottish Premier League clubs. At present it is also known as the Scottish Communities League Cup owing to the sponsorship deal in place with the Scottish Government. In the past it has been sponsored by...
winners: 1987, 1988, 1989, 1991
As a manager
RangersRangers F.C.
Rangers Football Club are an association football club based in Glasgow, Scotland, who play in the Scottish Premier League. The club are nicknamed the Gers, Teddy Bears and the Light Blues, and the fans are known to each other as bluenoses...
(as a player-manager)
- Scottish League ChampionshipScottish football championsThe Scottish football champions are the winners of the highest league in Scottish football, namely the Scottish Football League from 1890 until 1998 and the Scottish Premier League thereafter....
winners: 1986–87, 1988–89, 1989–90 - Scottish League CupScottish League CupThe Scottish League Cup is a football competition open to all Scottish Football League and Scottish Premier League clubs. At present it is also known as the Scottish Communities League Cup owing to the sponsorship deal in place with the Scottish Government. In the past it has been sponsored by...
winners: 1987, 1988, 1989, 1991
Liverpool
Liverpool F.C.
Liverpool Football Club is an English Premier League football club based in Liverpool, Merseyside. Liverpool has won eighteen League titles, second most in English football, seven FA Cups and a record seven League Cups...
- FA CupFA CupThe Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the FA Cup, is a knockout cup competition in English football and is the oldest association football competition in the world. The "FA Cup" is run by and named after The Football Association and usually refers to the English men's...
winners: 1992 - FA Charity ShieldFA Community ShieldThe Football Association Community Shield is English football's annual match contested between the champions of the previous Premier League season and the holders of the FA Cup at Wembley Stadium. If the Premier League champions also won the FA Cup then the league runners-up provide the opposition...
runners–up: 1992 - Football League First DivisionFootball League First DivisionThe First Division was a division of The Football League between 1888 and 2004 and the highest division in English football until the creation of the Premier League in 1992. The secondary tier in English football has since become known as the Championship....
runners-up: 1991
Galatasaray
Galatasaray S.K. (football team)
Galatasaray Anonim Şirketi is a Turkish football club, part of the Galatasaray S.K. multi-sport club of Istanbul. Galatasaray is a major sports club in Turkey, holding 17 Turkish Super League titles and the highest number of Turkish Cups....
- Turkish Cup winners: 1996
- Turkish Super CupTurkish Super CupThe TFF Süper Kupa, as it is currently known, is the annual super cup football match contested between the previous season's Süper Lig champions and the Turkish Cup winners in Turkey. It was originally known as the Cumhurbaşkanlığı Kupası from 1966 to 1998. No competition was held between 1999 and...
winners: 1996–97
Benfica
- Portuguese First DivisionPortuguese LigaThe Primeira Liga , formerly called Primeira Divisão, currently named Liga ZON Sagres after their main sponsors, is the top professional association football division of the Portuguese football league system...
runners–up: 1997–98
Blackburn Rovers
Blackburn Rovers F.C.
Blackburn Rovers Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of Blackburn, Lancashire. The team currently competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football....
- Football League CupFootball League CupThe Football League Cup, commonly known as the League Cup or, from current sponsorship, the Carling Cup, is an English association football competition. Like the FA Cup, it is played on a knockout basis...
winners: 2002 - Football League First DivisionFootball League First DivisionThe First Division was a division of The Football League between 1888 and 2004 and the highest division in English football until the creation of the Premier League in 1992. The secondary tier in English football has since become known as the Championship....
(Level 2) runners–up: 2000–01
Personal honours
In 1998 Souness was included in the Football League 100 LegendsFootball League 100 Legends
The Football League 100 Legends is a list of 100 great association football players who played part or all of their professional career in English Premier season of League football...
list.
A poll of 110,000 Liverpool supporters – 100 Players Who Shook The Kop, saw Souness placed the ninth most popular player in the club's history.
Souness was inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame
English Football Hall of Fame
The English Football Hall of Fame is housed at the National Football Museum, currently being relocated to Manchester, England. The Hall aims to celebrate and highlight the achievements of the all-time top English footballing talents, as well as non-English players and managers who have become...
in 2007 in recognition of his contribution to the game
Souness is one of 71 players elected to Rangers' official Hall of Fame
Rangers F.C. Hall of Fame
The Rangers F.C. Hall of Fame is a list established in 2000 by the then Rangers chairman, Sir David Murray, to honour the club's notable players.Each year more names are added by a panel consisting of selected ex-Rangers legends...
.
Souness is one of 24 players qualifying for the Scottish national team Hall of Fame
Scotland Football Hall of Fame
The Scotland national football team roll of honour is a list set up by the Scottish Football Association which recognises players who have gained 50 or more international caps for Scotland. There are currently 26 players on the roll of honour, with Kenny Miller the most recent addition...
.
Managerial statistics
| Team | Nat | From | To | Record | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | W | D | L | Win % | ||||
| Rangers Rangers F.C. Rangers Football Club are an association football club based in Glasgow, Scotland, who play in the Scottish Premier League. The club are nicknamed the Gers, Teddy Bears and the Light Blues, and the fans are known to each other as bluenoses... |
 |
1 April 1986 | 16 April 1991 |
|||||
| Liverpool Liverpool F.C. Liverpool Football Club is an English Premier League football club based in Liverpool, Merseyside. Liverpool has won eighteen League titles, second most in English football, seven FA Cups and a record seven League Cups... |
 |
16 April 1991 | 28 January 1994 |
|||||
| Galatasaray Galatasaray S.K. (football team) Galatasaray Anonim Şirketi is a Turkish football club, part of the Galatasaray S.K. multi-sport club of Istanbul. Galatasaray is a major sports club in Turkey, holding 17 Turkish Super League titles and the highest number of Turkish Cups.... |
 |
1 July 1995 | 1 July 1996 |
|||||
| Southampton Southampton F.C. Southampton Football Club is an English football team, nicknamed The Saints, based in the city of Southampton, Hampshire. The club gained promotion to the Championship from League One in the 2010–2011 season after being relegated in 2009. Their home ground is the St Mary's Stadium, where the club... |
|
3 July 1996 | 1 June 1997 |
|||||
| Torino Torino F.C. Torino Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Torino, is a professional Italian football club based in Turin, Piedmont, that was founded in 1906. The club has spent most of its history in the top tier in Italian football.... |
 |
5 July 1997 | 12 October 1997 |
|||||
| Benfica |  |
2 November 1997 | 3 May 1999 |
|||||
| Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers F.C. Blackburn Rovers Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of Blackburn, Lancashire. The team currently competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football.... |
|
14 March 2000 | 6 September 2004 |
|||||
| Newcastle United Newcastle United F.C. Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional association football club based in Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End and Newcastle West End, and has played at its current home ground, St James' Park, since the merger... |
|
13 September 2004 | 2 February 2006 |
|||||
External links
- Official past players at Liverpoolfc.tv
- LFC Online profile
- LFChistory.net Player profile
- LFChistory.net Manager profile
- Middlesbrough Seasonal record (Part 1) 1972/73-1974/75 at Sporting-heroes.net
- Middlesbrough Seasonal record (Part 2) 1975/76-1977/78 at Sporting-heroes.net
- Liverpool biography (Part 1) 1978–79 at Sporting-heroes.net
- Liverpool biography (Part 2) 1979–81 at Sporting-heroes.net
- Liverpool biography (Part 3) 1981–83 at Sporting-heroes.net
- Liverpool biography (Part 4) 1983–84 at Sporting-heroes.net
- Liverpool league appearances 1977/78-1983/84 at Sporting-heroes.net
- Rangers Seasonal record 1986/87-1990/91 at Sporting-heroes.net
- European Champions Cup/UEFA Champions League Winning Squads