Graeme Souness

Graeme Souness (born Edinburgh, Scotland, May 6, 1953) was the captain of the all-conquering Liverpool football team of the early 1980s who later returned to the club as manager.

Managerial career

He joined Rangers as player-manager for the 1987 season and the occasional bad challenge on opponents - something which Paisley had managed to restrict from him during his Liverpool days - immediately began to surface. He was sent off on his debut after two crude challenges and received a handful more red cards in what turned out to be his last season as a player.

Related Topics:
Rangers - 1987

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His other memorable activity at Rangers was his opening of the floodgates with signing non-Scottish players. He bought many Englishmen on the grounds that good players were the first requirement of a team wishing to succeed, irrespective of nationality. Scottish players had long decamped south of the border to ply their trade but English players had rarely gone north until Souness arrived at Rangers.

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Souness bought defender Terry Butcher from Ipswich Town to skipper the side and added goalkeeper Chris Woods and other English players. His most controversial signing was, however, a Scot - Mo Johnston was a skilful and admired striker but also a Catholic. Johnston was also a Celtic fan and ex-player of Rangers' Catholic-connected rivals, but settled in at Rangers, despite hostility from supporters of Celtic and scored plenty of goals.

Related Topics:
Terry Butcher - Ipswich Town - Goalkeeper - Chris Woods - Mo Johnston - Catholic - Celtic

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Rangers won two Scottish Premier League titles and four Scottish League Cups under Souness before he left to return to Liverpool in 1990 as manager after the resignation of Dalglish.

Related Topics:
Scottish Premier League - Scottish League Cup - 1990

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The four years which followed were eventful for Souness. There was some success on the field, with victory in the 1992 FA Cup final over Sunderland, but also some ill-judged tactics and transfer dealings and personal crises. Rumours about squabbles in the dressing room between players and Souness were rife, with Ian Rush famously telling a Sky Sports interviewer that 'teacups being thrown' were nothing new. Souness' only consolation at this time was the fact that he had bled several new prodigious young talents like Steve McManaman and allowed them to play and develop in the first team as compared to all the other senior players whom Souness accused of lacking 'heart'.

Related Topics:
1992 - FA Cup - Sunderland - Sky Sports - Steve McManaman

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Ironically, it was his own heart that literally was under duress. Souness had major heart surgery in 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.

Related Topics:
Heart surgery - Hospital - Portsmouth

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The game itself went to a replay and then a penalty shoot-out, and in the event of a victory, an interview was due to be published in a newspaper 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.

Related Topics:
Newspaper - Kissing

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The interview was due to go in alongside the match report on April 14 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 the April 15 instead - the third anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster. Liverpool fans reacted with fury after seeing a picture of their ecstatic manager kissing his girlfriend and smiling on the day that they were remembering the 96 supporters who had died at Hillsborough. They were also angry that the interview was conducted with The Sun - a newspaper which had been so vengeful towards Liverpool supporters after the disaster had occurred in 1989 and had been boycotted on Merseyside since. Souness, who apologised profusely at the time, has since said he should have resigned.

Related Topics:
April 14 - 1992 - April 15 - Hillsborough disaster - The Sun - 1989

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He made a full recovery from his heart operation and stayed at Liverpool until 1994. He quit after an FA Cup defeat against Bristol City and was replaced by Roy Evans. He went to manage Galatasaray in Turkey and again managed to court controversy with local issues - nearly sparking a riot after placing a large Galatasary flag into the centre circle of the pitch of hated rivals Fenerbahce after Galatasaray had beaten them in the Turkish Cup final.

Related Topics:
1994 - Bristol City - Roy Evans - Galatasaray - Turkey - Fenerbahce

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Souness then returned to England to manage Southampton but resigned, citing differences with chairman Rupert Lowe. He went back to Italy to become the coach at Torino but lasted just four months; then he went to Portugal to manage Benfica, which also didn't last.

Related Topics:
Southampton - Chairman - Rupert Lowe - Torino - Portugal - Benfica

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He then became manager of Blackburn Rovers, earning promotion back to the Premiership in his first season and winning the League Cup in 2002. Souness left Blackburn in 2004 to become manager of Newcastle United and he remains in this job. Souness has had a difficult time since arriving in the North East, falling out with a number of players including Welsh international Craig Bellamy who left the club. Newcastle have also started the 2005/2006 season in poor form but Souness hopes that the August 30th purchase of Michael Owen from Real Madrid will help to turn the club's fortunes around.

Related Topics:
Blackburn Rovers - Premiership - 2002 - 2004 - Newcastle United - Craig Bellamy - Michael Owen - Real Madrid

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In 1985, Souness wrote an autobiography 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.

Related Topics:
1985 - Autobiography - 1999

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Souness has a daughter, Lauren.

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