Graeme Souness is a former Scottish professional footballer and manager who played as a midfielder. Souness is now one of the most prominent television football pundits in the UK and Ireland, most notably through his work for Sky Sports. Souness was the captain of the successful Liverpool team of the early 1980s, player/manager of Rangers in the late 1980s and captain of the Scotland national team. He also played for Tottenham Hotspur, Middlesbrough and Sampdoria.
Brought up in Edinburgh, he played for the local boys’ club North Merchiston as a teenager before he went on to join London side Tottenham Hotspur as an apprentice and signed on professional terms in 1968 at the age of fifteen. Graeme made just one appearance for Spurs in the UEFA cup as a substitute. During the summer of 1972, Graeme played for the Montreal Olympique in the North American Soccer League. He appeared in ten of the team’s games, and was named in the league’s All-Star team for that season.
On his return to the United Kingdom, Graeme moved to Middlesbrough where his tenacious style began to garner acclaim during his time at the club. Graeme is however perhaps best remembered for his time spent at Liverpool. He was a member of the very successful team that won five League Championships, three European Cups and four League Cups. His time with the Reds began in 1978 when he joined two others recently signed Scottish players – Alan Hansen and Kenny Dalglish. All three went on to become legends at Anfield. He remains one of just four Reds captains to lift the European Cup. During his glittering career at Anfield, Souness won 14 trophies in his Liverpool career which ended in 1984 after 358 appearances and 56 goals. During his time, he won the European Golden Boot, was named in the PFA Team of the Year on numerous occasions and was named part of the PFA Team of the Century.
Joining Genoa based club Sampdoria before moving to Rangers in 1986 where he took on the role as player manager with one eye on his future career knowing his playing days were numbered. Graeme received his first international cap for Scotland in 1974. He went on to play in three World Cups – 1978, 1982 and 1986. He made a total of fifty-four caps for Scotland and scored four goals in the process. A truly illustrious and decorated is spoken of in Souness' performances as football speaker and they are extremely fond memories with a multitude of lessons shared along the way.
Graeme was appointed player manager at Rangers in 1986. The ‘Souness Revolution’ saw the signings of a number of high profile players from English teams – Terry Butcher, Chris Woods, Trevor Steven, Gary Stevens, Trevor Francis and Ray Wilkins. This was a reverse of the usual trend of talented Scottish players playing for sides in England. The newly revitalised Rangers soon began to have success and dominate Scottish football. In his first season, they won the Championship and the League Cup.
In 1981, Graeme returned to Liverpool as manager where he led the club to an FA Cup. He went on to manage a number of other high profile clubs including Galatasaray where he won the Turkish Cup and Turkish Super Cup , Southampton, Torino, Benfica, Blackburn Rovers and Newcastle United. Souness has appeared as a television analyst in the UK and Ireland regularly since his managerial ended, He is currently one of the main analysts on Sky Sports coverage of the Premier League, regularly appearing on the Super Sunday programme along with being an extremely familiar face analysing UEFA Champions League matches.
In a tremendous career across all facets of football, Graeme Souness truly is a legend of the game, a Hall of Fame inductee in both England and Scotland and one of the greatest players to have played for Liverpool, Souness provides a wonderful knowledge of the game which he elegantly portrays in his performances as a football speaker. His marvellous ability within playing, management and punditry allow the audience to gain a rare insight into all aspects of the game from an incredibly high achieving performer. The opportunity to have Graeme Souness as a football speaker at your event is one not to be missed.
