Graeme Souness

Graeme Souness
Personnel
Surname	Graeme James Souness
birthday	May 6, 1953
place of birth	Edinburgh ,  Scotland
size	180 cm
position	midfield
Juniors
Years	station
1968-1970	Tottenham Hotspur
Men's
Years	station	Games (goals) 1
1970-1971	Tottenham Hotspur	0 0(0)
1972-1977	Middlesbrough FC	174 (22)
1978-1984	Liverpool FC	247 (38)
1984-1986	Sampdoria Genoa	56 0(8)
1986-1990	Glasgow Rangers	50 0(2)
National team
Years	selection	Games (goals)
1974-1986	Scotland	54 (4)
Stations as a trainer
Years	station
1986-1987	Glasgow Rangers (player-manager)
1987-1991	Glasgow Rangers
1991-1994	Liverpool FC
1995-1996	Galatasaray Istanbul
1996-1997	Southampton FC
1997-1999	Benfica Lisbon
2000-2004	Blackburn Rovers
2004-2006	Newcastle United
1 Only league games are given.

Graeme James Souness (born May 6, 1953 in Edinburgh ) is a former Scottish football player and current football coach . He was team captain for Liverpool FC , which had a very successful era at the time and to which he later returned as a coach.

Career as a football player

As one of the most outstanding players of his generation, Souness won five English championships in the former First Division in seven eventful seasons at Anfield Road (played under this name from 1889 to 1992), three times the European Cup and four league cups .

Souness began his career at Tottenham Hotspur under the direction of Bill Nicholson . From a young age, his impatience grew with his rare opportunities to recommend himself to the first team, until he made it clear to Nicholson that he considered himself the best player in the club and therefore belonged in the starting lineup.

Souness had only played once before moving to Middlesbrough in 1973 before becoming a valued and feared midfielder by the opposition and maturing into a leader during his five-year stint. In 1974 he made his debut for the Scottish national soccer team and defeated the GDR team 3-0.

After winning the first national championship trophy in 1977, Liverpool looked intensively for reinforcements in order to be prepared for national and international title defense. Among the three Scottish new signings, after Alan Hansen and Kenny Dalglish, was Souness, who was signed by manager Bob Paisley in January 1978 for 350,000 British pounds. These three players would form the backbone of Liverpool for the years to come.

Souness quickly got used to it in Liverpool and the team won the European championship again. However, he was not used until the semi-finals, but was instrumental in the only goal of the game in the final at Wembley Stadium against Club Bruges , when he did the preparatory work for the decisive goal by Dalglish.

That same summer he was called up by Ally McLeod for the Scottish squad for the 1978 World Cup in Argentina . At that time he had only played six international matches and an injury prevented him from playing in the first two group matches against Peru and Iran . After a defeat and a draw in these games, his use in the decisive final group meeting against the Netherlands was seen as indispensable. The necessary victory with three goals difference was narrowly missed with 3: 2.

The following year Souness won his first English championship with Liverpool and defended this title immediately in 1980. When Liverpool lost the championship title to Aston Villa in 1981 , the team won the league cup and in the final against Real Madrid the third national championship cup ; Souness managed a hat trick in the quarter-finals against CSKA Sofia .

Paisley decided in the summer of 1981 to transfer the office of team captain from Phil Thompson to Souness, who justified this measure by winning the English championship and the league cup. Souness took part in the 1982 World Cup in Spain and played in all three group matches - against New Zealand , Brazil and the USSR . He managed his first international goal in the game against the USSR, but this did not prevent Scotland from being eliminated from the tournament after the preliminary round.

Also in 1982, Souness made a cameo in a BBC film , Boys From The Blackstuff , where he played himself.

In the following year Liverpool again won both the English championship and the league cup. After winning the league cup, Souness waived his right to receive the trophy as captain and let his coach Paisley take precedence as the person in charge after his last game.

In 1984 Souness won three more titles with the renewed championship title and the league cup in the final against city rivals from Merseyside , Everton . After a goalless first game, Souness scored the decisive goal to make it 1-0 in the new edition with a skillful long-range shot. The European Cup was secured by a final win on penalties against AS Roma . Shortly thereafter, Souness, who had repeatedly expressed his desire for a foreign engagement, moved to Sampdoria Genoa for a transfer of 650,000 pounds . His playing career in Liverpool ended after 358 appearances and 56 goals.

Souness stayed in Italy for two years, at which point his international career was drawing to a close. The then Scottish interim trainer Alex Ferguson nominated Souness for the squad of the 1986 World Cup in Mexico and Souness played two group games against Denmark and Germany , both of which Scotland lost and was thus eliminated again prematurely. In the game against Uruguay , a team that kicked the ball and opponents alike, Souness had to pass due to injury.

Souness scored the only goal in a legendary preparation game for this World Cup against England - after only two more internationals, his international career came to an end with a total of 54 appearances and four goals in almost twelve years.

Coaching career

Souness joined the Glasgow Rangers in April 1986 as a player-coach . His occasional rude entry into combat behavior, which Paisley usually had under control during his time in Liverpool, became a problem there. In his first game for the Rangers he was sent off after two tough fouls, and received a handful of other red cards as a player this last season.

Souness' philosophy of recently also attracting foreign players to the club was decisive for the further course of the Rangers. He signed some English players with the aim that a team that wants to achieve higher goals also needs good quality players beyond nationality. Scottish players had often played south of the border before, but English players in Scotland were a rarity before Souness was in charge of the Rangers.

Souness bought defender Terry Butcher of Ipswich Town and made him team captain, as well as goalkeeper Chris Woods and other English footballers. Perhaps his most controversial purchase was a Scot regardless - Mo Johnston was a skilled and recognized striker , but also a Catholic . Johnston was also a supporter and former player of the Celtics , the city rivals traditionally from the Catholic environment. Despite openly voiced hostility from Celtics supporters, Johnston managed to make the switch and scored a number of goals for his new club.

The Rangers won two Scottish Premier League championships and four Scottish League cups under Souness before he returned to Liverpool in 1990 and succeeded the previously resigned Dalglish as manager.

His four years there were eventful for Souness. In addition to some successes, such as the victory in the final of the FA Cup in 1992 against Sunderland , he also had to take some criticism for decisions in the areas of tactics and transfer policy and survive personal crises.

Souness had heart surgery in 1992 but was in the dugout just days after he was released from hospital during the FA Cup Finals. Nevertheless, the disagreements had already started in the semifinals against Portsmouth .

The game itself had to be repeated after a draw in the first encounter and ended with Liverpool winning on penalties. An interview with Souness, in which he celebrated his entry into the finals as well as his successful operation, should be published in a newspaper the next day. The picture that was supposed to be published with the article showed a happy souness kissing his girlfriend and celebrating his successes.

The interview was scheduled for publication on April 14, 1992, along with the match analysis, but the deadline was missed due to the late game decision , so the article along with the photo was instead printed on April 15 - the third anniversary of Hillsborough Disaster . The Liverpoolers reacted angrily when they saw their manager celebrating exuberantly on the commemoration day of the 96 victims. They were also angry about the fact that the interview appeared in The Sun newspaper - a tabloid that has since been boycotted by fans given the negative coverage after the disaster. Souness apologized several times and later said that he should have resigned then.

He made a full recovery from his heart surgery and stayed in Liverpool until 1994. After a defeat in the FA Cup against Bristol City , he was then replaced by Roy Evans . He moved to Turkey for Galatasaray Istanbul and found himself again in a controversial situation when he placed a Galatasaray flag in the middle of the field of the Fenerbahçe Stadium after beating Fenerbahçe Istanbul in the final of the Turkish Cup and thus openly provoked the opposing fans. It is worth mentioning that since this action he has enjoyed hero status among Galatasaray fans.

Souness returned to England to look after Southampton . After differences with the chairman there, Rupert Lowe , he gave up this office again. He went to Italy to Torino Calcio , where he stayed only four months. His next brief interlude was the club Benfica Lisbon in Portugal .

He then returned to England. With the Blackburn Rovers , he was promoted to the Premier League in his first season , and in 2002 he won the League Cup. Souness left Blackburn in 2004 to join Newcastle United , where he coached until his release in February 2006. He is also often in demand as an expert in the media ( Sky Sports ).

Souness wrote an autobiography in 1985 entitled "No Half Measures". Another book followed in 1999 with “Souness: The Management Years”, in which he focused on his coaching career up to and including his time in Southampton.

Souness has a daughter.

Success as a player

• European championship champions: 1978, 1981, 1984
• English champion: 1979, 1980, 1982, 1983, 1984
• English league cup winner: 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984
• Community Shield winner: 1979, 1980, 1982
• Coppa Italia winner: 1985

Success as a trainer

• FA Cup winner: 1992
• English league cup winner: 2002
• Scottish champion : 1987 , 1989 , 1990
• Scottish Cup Winner : 1987 , 1988 , 1990 , 1991
• Turkish Cup Winner: 1996