Graeme Souness was born in Edinburgh on 6 May 1953. One of the outstanding midfielders of his era, hard and technically excellent in equal measure, he played for Tottenham, Middlesbrough, Liverpool between 1978 and 1984 — five league titles and three European Cups, the last two as captain — and Sampdoria, and won 54 caps for Scotland. He became player-manager of Rangers in 1986 and won three Scottish championships, then managed Liverpool from 1991 to 1994, winning the FA Cup in 1992 in a period interrupted by heart surgery, and Galatasaray, where he won the Turkish cup and planted a club flag in the centre circle of Fenerbahçe's ground.

Benfica appointed him in July 1997 and he stayed two seasons, 71 matches of which he won 41. He won nothing. Benfica finished second behind Porto in 1997/98 and could not close the gap the following year, and he left in May 1999 after a 1-1 draw with Campomaiorense, at a club whose finances were deteriorating badly and whose squad he had rebuilt largely with British and Irish signings, among them Michael Thomas, Dean Saunders, Steve Harkness, Brian Deane and Scott Minto.

His football was direct and physically demanding, built on a hard-running midfield and a high tempo, and it never fully convinced a support used to something more measured. He returned to England with Blackburn Rovers, winning the League Cup in 2002, and then Newcastle United, before a long second career as a television analyst.