A midfielder, Souness achieved his greatest period of success as an integral part of the Liverpool team of the late 1970s and early 1980s, during which he won five First Division titles and three European Cup trophies.

One of Charlton's first signings was experienced former Celtic midfielder Bobby Murdoch, a fellow Scot whom Souness later cited as an important influence in the development of his playing style.

After winning his first European Cup in 1977, Liverpool manager Bob Paisley sought reinforcements by signing three Scottish players, all of whom were to contribute substantially to further success.

Souness played a pivotal role in Liverpool's retention of the European Cup against FC Bruges in 1978 at Wembley Stadium, providing the pass for Kenny Dalglish to score the match's only goal.

[12][13] Liverpool won the league title for the third consecutive season and reached the 1984 European Cup final after beating Romanian champions Dinamo București in the semi-final 3–1 on aggregate.

In his first season, Sampdoria won the Coppa Italia with a 3–1 aggregate victory over Serie A rivals Milan in the final, securing the trophy for the first time in club history.

Disciplinary problems – something that had recurred periodically throughout Souness's career – resurfaced on a number of occasions during his time as a player at Rangers, and the spell was also blighted by injury.

[16] Financed initially by the club's then owner, Lawrence Marlborough, Souness and club chairman David Holmes embarked upon a bold strategy of reclaiming the footballing ascendancy Rangers had lacked in recent years, having not won the league title since 1978, with all of the Scottish league titles since then being claimed by their arch-rivals Celtic, and the emerging "New Firm" of Aberdeen and Dundee United.

In May 1990, Souness was fined £5,000 by the SFA for breaching a touchline ban after television pictures showed him in the tunnel area yelling at his players on the pitch.

They returned to European competition that season after six years of isolation following the Heysel disaster of 1985, and reached the UEFA Cup quarter-finals, where they were eliminated by Genoa.

In the event of a victory for Liverpool, an interview was due to be published in the Sun, a British tabloid, with Souness celebrating the win and his own successful surgery.

[36] Many Liverpool fans reacted with fury after seeing the interview was conducted with The Sun, a newspaper which had been reviled and widely shunned on Merseyside following its false reporting on the disaster.

While Saunders was a key player in Villa's near-successful title challenge, his successor Paul Stewart proved to be a huge disappointment, scoring just one league goal from 32 appearances over the next two seasons, struggling with injuries as well as inconsistent form.

[citation needed] The pressure on Souness continued to mount throughout 1993, but he made another attempt at revitalising Liverpool by signing defender Julian Dicks and striker Nigel Clough for the 1993–94 season.

Apart from guiding them to FA Cup success in 1992, he also oversaw the breakthrough of three young players who would go on to be a key part in Liverpool's improved performances over the next five years – Steve McManaman, Robbie Fowler and Jamie Redknapp, allowing them to play and develop in the first team where they went on to inspire an upturn in fortunes at Anfield.

This was overheard by Manchester United assistant manager Brian Kidd and relayed to Walter Smith, who was so alarmed by Thompson's behaviour that he drove from Scotland to Liverpool to tell Souness what had been said.

[20] Tommy Smith had been strongly critical of Souness in the local media at the time, and he had been caught mixing with the players and some of the coaches at Anfield despite no longer having an official position at the club.

[20] After leaving Liverpool, Souness was out of work for over a year, despite reports at the end of the 1993–94 season linking him with a return to Middlesbrough, this time as a manager, a job which went to Bryan Robson instead.

During his four-year spell at Blackburn, he initially got the very best out of talented youngsters such as Damien Duff, David Dunn and Matt Jansen, as well as bringing Henning Berg back to the club and signing big name players like Andy Cole, Tugay Kerimoğlu, Barry Ferguson, Brad Friedel and Dwight Yorke.

[46] Despite a promising start on Tyneside, Souness quickly fell out with a number of players, including Welsh international Craig Bellamy, who left the club to join Blackburn, after being loaned out to Celtic.

However, Owen cracked the fifth metatarsal of his right foot when he clashed with England teammate Paul Robinson during a 2–0 defeat at Tottenham on 30 December 2005 and was out of action for three months, adding to the club's injury woes.

By the beginning of February 2006, Newcastle United were placed 15th in the Premier League table and sliding dangerously towards a relegation battle, despite having spent over £50million on players in the last 18 months.

At £8.2 million, Boumsong was his first big signing and Souness said he would replace Jonathan Woodgate in the Newcastle defence,[56] which had conceded several leads earlier in the season.

Souness contributed to RTÉ Sport's coverage of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, alongside Johnny Giles, Eamon Dunphy, Liam Brady, Ronnie Whelan, Denis Irwin, Ossie Ardiles and Dietmar Hamann for the duration of the group stage.

[67] In June 2006, the chairman of Crystal Palace, Simon Jordan, said he wished to discuss with Souness a role in managing the club following the departure of Iain Dowie.

[70] In January 2008, Souness announced he would be willing to return to Newcastle United as manager, following the departure of Sam Allardyce and the arrival of the club's new ownership and board.

[75] In January 2007, it was reported by the Daily Mirror that Souness was heading a £20 million consortium to take over Football League Championship club Wolverhampton Wanderers.

[78] In 2010, Souness sold the family home in Colinton in Edinburgh for £3.5m to Fred Goodwin,[79] and moved to a newly developed property in Sandbanks, Poole, Dorset.

[80] During a discussion about climate change on Sky Sports Super Sunday in 2021, Souness announced that he had been following a vegan diet for the previous three years.

Written by Alan Bleasdale, the series offered a critique of Thatcherism – and in particular the large-scale unemployment then evident in urban Britain – apparently at odds with Souness's own Conservative politics.