Graeme Souness: Pickford is claiming clean-sheet records against pub teams

Dominic KingSat, June 6, 2026 at 5:00 AM UTC

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Graeme Souness will be bringing his insight to Telegraph Sport's World Cup coverage this summer - Paul Grover for The Telegraph

The idea, initially, was to have this meeting after a lap or two around Poole Harbour.

Graeme Souness is an open-water swimming devotee and has raised £4.5m from challenges in the English Channel for Debra UK, the charity which supports those with the rare skin condition epidermolysis bullosa.

As much as Souness liked the proposal of taking a companion out in the waves, his schedule means we meet, early morning, at The Beaumont, a boutique hotel in Mayfair, and it is immediately apparent this was a much more sensible option.

He has emerged after an hour in the gym, ready to replenish on a breakfast of yogurt, fruit, seeds and well-done scrambled eggs. Physically, he looks no different to the pomp of his playing days and it is apparent this correspondent would have been less a partner, more of an anchor.

"It was just the most wonderful experience," he says of the Channel swims. "You know, it was like being back in a dressing room because the guys I did it with, the banter was quite fierce. I just loved it, loved being back in that environment."

Souness celebrated his 73rd birthday in May, but he is a shining illustration for the benefits of staying active. Through the course of the morning, he fizzes with opinions and Telegraph Sport's World Cup coverage will be all the better for his presence, as he joins us as a columnist for the tournament.

'Personal trainer? I don't need one'

"I do something every day and I enjoy it," he continues about his training regime. "I like the solitude, thinking about the daft stuff I'm going to do, things I should have done. I got away from playing without any injuries – hips, ankles, knees, all OK. The only thing I had was dodgy arteries!

"But that enables me to do stuff now. I was on my bike for half an hour, then on the treadmill for half an hour. I didn't do my sit-ups today as I ran out of time. I do an exercise called mountain climbers – that's good for your core. I do 80 of those and 80 sit-ups, straight back, knees bent.

"I've got a terrific bit of kit at home, too, called an 'Attack Bike'. When you go into the gym, they're always lying empty. No one goes on them because they're hardcore. People say to me: 'Have you got a personal trainer?' I don't need one. I can motivate myself – and that's a big plus."

He is motivated but also enthusiastic. Souness might love keeping fit but he is obsessed by football, passionate when he makes a point. It is three years since he left his punditry role on Sky Sports and his presence on screen has been missed, as he always said something that made you listen.

Souness on punditry duty at Anfield during his final season working with Sky Sports - Peter Byrne/PA

"I don't miss the travelling," he says. "But I love football. I've always loved football. I'm like everyone else, do you know what I mean? The game has changed and we have to accept it's changed. Some ways it's changed for the better, other ways I'm not so sure.

"My biggest fear is the simulation and the poor refereeing. I think the referees have to get back to where they were with these set-pieces. Now set-pieces are important, they always have been, but it's gone overboard. You saw it when West Ham played Arsenal, as an example.

"It's all about blocking: blocking the goalkeeper, blocking the best headers. There's nothing clever about it at all. I think something has to be done about it because it's spoiling our game. One hundred per cent. Then I hear some of the things that are said by managers. It's blinding people with science, isn't it?"

'Tweaked the tiger's tail, didn't we?'

He's in the groove now. Opinions are one thing, but stories are another and Souness is a natural raconteur, and a World Cup summer invites us to take a step back in time to an eight-year period when Scottish participation wasn't hoped for but expected.

From 1978, when he was a member of Ally MacLeod's army that "went to the Argentine" through to 1986 in Mexico, when he had just become player-manager of Rangers – aged 33 – and was trying to overcome food poisoning while planning transfers, there is enough material for a book.

The first place to start, however, is in the middle – 1982 in Spain. We find footage of a goal he scored against the Soviet Union and it prompts a bittersweet smile because that 2-2 draw led to Scotland's elimination, the damage being done by a 4-1 thrashing by Brazil.

"Tweaked the tiger's tail, didn't we?" says Souness, who was capped 54 times. "We made a mistake of scoring first. So, we were in Seville in the summer. And it is exceedingly hot, exceptionally hot. Still, you've got to go out and warm up. You do that, but you come back in and you are covered in sweat.

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"You put your head under the shower, take your training top off. You put your shirt back on. Then you go out. I remember: I'm standing here, all our players are there to my left, looking at the main stand. The national anthems start playing.

"So it is me, linesman, referee, linesman, then it is Sócrates and the rest of them. I've looked at our players. We're all covered in sweat, red-faced, we looked like we'd played 90 minutes already. I looked at them, not a bit of sweat on them. I thought to myself: 'We're in trouble, boys!'

"They were the best team to never win a World Cup. Every one of those players would be worth £150m in today's market. Falcão was in midfield; he was on £25,000 a week when he played for Roma against Liverpool in the 1984 European Cup final.

Souness face to face with Socrates before Scotland's World Cup meeting with Brazil in 1982 - Michel Barrault/Icon Sport

"There's something magic about the shirt. I had Sócrates's shirt. I got some others through my career, but I got Sócrates's shirt that day."

He goes on to talk about Zico, the wizard in a team of magicians, and describes him as being one of only three opponents in his career who made him feel they were playing a different game, the others being Alan Ball – "I couldn't get near him" – and Diego Maradona.

'Today there's protection and pitches are like carpets'

"The most common question I get asked is: 'Could you play today?'" he begins, eyes narrowing. "I say: 'I'm not going to answer that.' So I want you to ask me this question – could the players today have played in the 1980s?"

This feels like a test. My instinct is to say many would struggle and counter with a story Michael Laudrup, Denmark's greatest player, told me a couple of years ago about playing in Italy and the treatment he saw Maradona receive, when boots landed on ankles and elbows landed on mouths.

"Right," Souness replies. "The referee was less sympathetic, the pitches were s---. If I describe a scenario where you're going to go on bobbly pitches and you know if you try to take a second touch, then someone is trying to hurt you. Today there is protection and the pitches are like carpets.

"George Best used to run with the ball a foot from the end of his toes on pitches that were like ploughed fields. So where do you need the best technique? So, you know, that's the argument you have to consider when you talk about who is the greatest of all time."

When it is asked how he would fare nowadays, the pause, the glare and the simple sentence of: "I wouldn't need a second touch" is enough for us to move on to the imminent tournament, and the size of it – 48 teams, compared to 24 in 1986 – leaves him with some misgivings.

"People are just monetising football," he says, firmly. "Their argument, of course, would be that they're ploughing those proceeds around. But you look at it now and it's very difficult not to qualify for a World Cup, isn't it?

"Scotland had a brilliant night, when beating Denmark. Scott McTominay's overhead kick, there were some exceptional goals and it was a tremendous achievement, but we weren't the best team on the night. I don't want to downplay it, but it's hard not to get to a tournament now.

"Look at England. Your goalkeeper [Jordan Pickford] is claiming all these clean sheet records against f---ing pub teams! And you can put that in! Andorra, Latvia, Albania. You see all kinds of goalscoring records being broken. I made my debut, in comparison, against Yugoslavia – that's six countries now!"

Jordan Pickford broke Gordon Banks' England record of seven consecutive clean sheets during October's win over Wales - Mike Hewitt/Getty Images

There will be more thoughts like this coming your way. He is intrigued to see how it will all play out, not least the games in Mexico, where he winces as he recalls, 40 years ago, feeling as "weak as a kitten"; the games played at high altitude, he feels, will be wars of attrition.

In terms of potential winners, we discuss the obvious – Spain, France, Argentina – but it is fascinating when he puts Portugal forward into the mix and he will be following their journey with interest. He will not be going to the States, but that will not stop the fire burning.

"The last two World Cups I've fancied England and I said they had a great chance of winning it," he concludes. "I haven't got that feeling this time. You know, if Harry Kane's not scoring the goals, where are they coming from?"

He will be settling down, like the rest of us, to see how the questions get answered. And he cannot wait to talk with you about it.

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Source: “AOL Sports”