 Graeme Souness
Job Title: Manager with 1990-1994
Date of Birth: 06/05/1953
With the Reds: 1978-1984 & 1990-94
Arrived from: Glasgow Rangers
Signed for LFC: 16.04.1991
First game in charge: 20.04.1991
LFC league games as manager: 115
Total LFC games as manager: 157
Contract expiry: 28.01.1994
Former Clubs as Player: Tottenham Hotspur, Middlesbrough,
Liverpool, Sampdoria, Player-/Manadger - Gasgow Rangers
Former Clubs as Staff: Glasgow Rangers, Galatasaray, Torino, Benfica, Southampton,
Blackburn Rovers
Birthplace: Edinburgh, Scotland
Characteristics:
Honours as Staff: 1 FA Cup 91/92 (as Manager)
Runners up: (all as Manager)
Personal Honours:
Managerial records for Graeme Souness
| Competition |
P |
W |
D |
L |
F |
A |
% |
| League |
115 |
47 |
34 |
34 |
164 |
133 |
40.87& |
| FA Cup |
13 |
5 |
6 |
2 |
17 |
11 |
38.46& |
| League Cup |
16 |
7 |
7 |
2 |
38 |
22 |
43.75& |
| Europe |
12 |
6 |
|
6 |
26 |
16 |
50.00& |
| Other |
1 |
|
|
1 |
3 |
4 |
0.00& |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Total |
157 |
65 |
47 |
45 |
248 |
186 |
41.40% |
Matches that are won or lost in a penalty shoot-out are counted as a draw in
those numbers. |
STAFF PROFILE
Souness followed best mate Dalglish in the managerial hot seat at Anfield after a
successful 5-year-spell at Glasgow Rangers. Dalglish left an ageing side behind but on the
other hand future stars like Fowler, McManaman and Redknapp were coming into their own.
Souness himself admitted that he wanted to change things too quickly. Established stars
like Beardsley, McMahon, Venison and Houghton were on their way while he bought players of
much lesser talent like Walters, Kozma, Dicks, Clough, Stewart, Tanner, etc. The best
purchase Souness ever made, Rob Jones, arrived in October 1991.
The team was in dire straits early on and Barnes, Wright and Whelan all out
injured. Molby missed 10 weeks and Rush was out for 20 games. Ian Rush blames Souness for
Liverpool's amazing injury list in his autobiography, as Souness had put the players
through a strenuous training programme in pre-season: "It produced an incredible
series of injuries to the lads, before a single ball had even been kicked."
The 1991-92 season proved very dramatic for Souness as he missed several games
himself in April and May because he had to undergo a triple by-pass heart surgery. He was
though in charge at Wembley, but could hardly enjoy his only cup victory as Liverpool's
boss against Sunderland. However the beginning of the end for Souness was already in
motion in mid-April when he sold the hated Sun his by-pass operation story, on the third
anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster. Liverpool supporters would never forgive him
this error.
In the summer David James was signed as a future replacement for the ageing
Grobbelaar. Liverpool made their worst start to a season for 39 years. The alarm bells
were seriously ringing! Souness wasn't even present for the final game of the season
against Tottenham at Anfield. He was instead sent away to run the rule over Coventry vs
Leeds United. It was widely expected that Souness would leave before the start of next
season, but the board decided to promote Roy Evans to assistant manager, clearly
indicating he would take over from Souness if things didn’t work out as planned.
Liverpool won the first three games, but three defeats in a row in September put
things into perspective. October and the start of November proved to be fruitful, a 5-2-0
record. Liverpool ended 1993 by drawing four league games in a row. Liverpool were in 7th
place with 36 points from 23 games midway through the season.
A 1-1 draw away with Bristol City in the FA Cup 3rd round caused concern which
changed to panic when Liverpool lost the replay at Anfield 0-1. This was totally
unacceptable and Souness knew it! He handed in his resignation the following week. He was
not present at the mandatory press conference but instead issued a statement confessing:
"I took this job believing that I could return the club to its former glory but this
proved to be more difficult than I anticipated."
Chairman David Moores was certainly sorry to see his friend leave and cited
Souness’s heart surgery, his father’s death and the unprecedented amount of players'
injuries not helping him in the job. But no matter what had happened it came finally down
to just one thing: "The results have been well below what is expected by the club and
its supporters."
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