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Birthdate:
06.05.1953
Birthplace: Edinburgh, Scotland
Other clubs: Tottenham, Montreal Olympic, Middlesbrough, Sampdoria, Rangers
Bought from: Middlesbrough
Signed for LFC: £352000 10.01.1978
International debut: 30.10.1974 vs. East Germany
International caps: 54/4 (37/2 as a LFC player) - 08.06.1986
Liverpool debut:
14.01.1978
Last appearance: 30.05.1984
Debut goal: 25.02.1978
Last goal: 21.04.1984
Contract expiry: 12.06.1984
LFC league games/goals: 247 / 38
Total LFC games/goals: 359 / 55
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Player Notes:
A true midfield maestro who is certain to finish on everyone's greatest Liverpool XI list. In 1968, Souness joined Tottenham and attracted attention for his part in Spurs' youth team's great run in the FA cup. There were four finals in total, he scored in the first and fourth, but was sent off in the third. When he was 17, he knocked on manager Bill Nicholson's door and demanded a fair chance in the first team. He didn't agree, Souness stormed out and went back home to Scotland. Souness played 10 games in the North American Soccer League (NASL) for Montreal Olympic before Tottenham sold him to Middlesbrough in 1973 for 30,000 pounds. The only game Souness played for Tottenham's first team was a European match against Icelandic club, Keflavik FC.
When Jack Charlton took over at Boro soon after Souness joined, he learned from his fellow coaches that Souness liked the nightlife a bit too much. Jackie sat down with Souness claiming that he liked to go out and have fun but he has wise enough to not let it interfere with his football career. Charlton reminded him that he could be a very successful football player or his career could be over in just one year if not careful. Souness took notice of these wise words... for the time being. In 1978, Souness went off the tracks again and broke the club's disciplinary code. He threatened to quit football. He decided to return eventually, but soon after that he got a call telling him to go to a hotel in Leeds to talk to a certain club. To Souness' delight, the European champions were the party interested. Souness didn't hesitate and signed immediately the contract put in front of him. He was then driven in a limosine back home and told to be ready for next Liverpool match against WBA. The sum Liverpool payed for him was £352,000 which was at that time a transfer record between English clubs.
Souness' Liverpool career didn't start very promisingly: "As a kid you usually live in digs where there is someone to keep an eye on you but when I moved from Middlesbrough to Liverpool I was given a room in the Holiday Inn. This was the start of the third period of my life during which I very nearly managed to wreck my own career. I lived there for nine months and it was then I earned the nickname of Champagne Charlie. The routine was quickly established. I would train at Melwood, go back for lunch and a few beers, get involved in a session at the cocktail bar, sleep between 4 and 7 p.m and then crawl back down for dinner. If that became a little too boring there was always a club open somewhere, where they were only too happy to have a Liverpool player gracing their bar or the dancefloor." Souness also made a serious faux pas with one of the most experienced campaigners at Anfield: "That first day at Anfield, 10 January 1978, was a revelation. It seems a long time now but I remember how normal and ordinary it all was, no prima donnas, no superstars. I made only one error on that first morning, I asked Tommy Smith if I could borrow his hairdryer and he turned to Phil Neal and said pointedly: ‘Everyone is allowed one mistake’. I took my own in the future."
Souness' first goal for his new club was voted the goal of the season, the recipients of Souness' thunderbolt were Man Utd. Souness was in and out of the side, but the end of the season was sweet. His pass released Dalglish to score the winning goal in the European cup final. His debut season was a dream come true: "The nearest I had been to European competition before was watching the Eurovision Song Contest so it was a dream come true when I won a European Champions’s medal within four months of signing for Liverpool in 1978." Souness was the driving force in the midfield for Liverpool and controlled the play with Terry McDermott when Liverpool won the title in 1979 and 1980. The 1980-81 season he won the League cup and European cup. Souness scored a hat-trick against CSKA Sofia in the quarter finals in a 5-1 victory at Anfield. The trophies kept coming and Souness' genius was for everyone to see. During Christmas 1981 the situation wasn't so good at Anfield, they lost 1-3 against Manchester City on boxing day and the team was in 12th place. Bob Paisley saw that the team needed changes. He promoted Souness to captain of the team instead of Phil Thompson, but at the cost of Souness' and Thommo's friendship as Souness explains: "One day, at half-time during a dodgy performance at Villa Park, Bob asked Tommo if maybe the captaincy was not a bit too much for him. Phil, a proud Liverpudlian who treasured the captaincy, gave a very abrupt reply. Bob did not like that one bit and flew back at him. It was a rare sight and, a few days later, I was leaning against a goalpost helping to collect balls at shooting practice session when he asked me how I would feel about the captaincy. I knew that that was what I wanted and I told him that if it was offered I would take it, and sure enough at the next match at Swansea I was captain. It was a great thrill and a great honour even though it ended any pretence of friendship between Phil Thompson and me. He took it as a personal affront and it was a long long time before he would say even hello to me."
1983/84 turned out to be Souness' last season with the Reds, winning the championship for the third year in a row. The club reached their 4th European cup final by winning every away leg and in the second-leg of the semi-final with Dinamo Bucharest, Souness was attacked verbally and physically by Rumanian players, incensed that he had broken the jaw of one of their colleagues in the first meeting at Anfield two weeks previously. He responded, as he usually did when the odds were stacked against him, with a performance of great concentration and discipline, qualities that he would need in abundance when it was discovered that the club's opponents, Roma, for what would turn out to be his farewell Liverpool appearance would have the unfair advantage of playing the final in their own stadium! "I went berserk. For the first time I wept tears of joy and I was alternately laughing and crying along with a few other professionals and we launched into our famous victory celebration song as we lined up for a team picture. The words are too dirty to repeat but they seemed to delight the Italian photographers who kicked each other while fighting over the best spot to take their pictures." Graeme Souness' performance on that memorable night in the Italian capital undoubtedly helped secure his move to Sampdoria shortly afterwards. Souness said his goodbyes to Liverpool with style by securing the League cup vs Everton with a great shot way outside the penalty area and he was 2nd in PFA's choice for player of the year.
Sampdoria in Italy was Souness' next destination where he received a warm welcome: "Goodness knows what the other people on the aeroplane must have thought when we touched down for it was like a carnival time with what seemed to be thousands of people on the tarmac. There were flowers for my wife, kisses and hugs from old ladies and a Sampdoria shirt with a number eleven on the back was thrust into my hands." He helped the club win the Italian cup and even scored in the final. After two successful years in Italy, he returned to his homeland to become player-manager at Glasgow Rangers and immediately set about the task of ensuring that they would become the club to beat in Scotland. The turbulent three years he was in charge at Anfield turned many supporters against him. But they will still recall what he brought to the club as a player, many remarkable years of success with numerous trophies and unforgettable performances. Souness deserves to be remembered as one of the greatest players ever to wear the famous red shirt. |
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