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When Graeme Souness returned to Liverpool as manager in 1991, he had spent years at the top of football without ever having serious concerns about his health. He had won five league titles and three European Cups as a Liverpool player, before going to Rangers and winning another three league titles as manager. But nine months into his return to Anfield, his blood pressure was getting dangerously high. Eventually, he went to hospital for tests. The results showed he had suffered a mild heart attack. He was only 38 years old. An angiogram revealed that he needed a triple heart bypass, and when the consultant broke the news, Souness immediately asked: “When can you do it?” The operation was arranged for the following Tuesday, just days after Liverpool’s FA Cup semi-final against Portsmouth in April 1992. “Let’s do it.” The night before surgery, the surgeon arrived to explain what would happen the following morning. Souness told him to make sure he got home early and had a good night’s sleep. The surgeon had other plans. “No, I’m off to the pub.” He started telling Souness about a nearby pub that served particularly good real ale. “Make sure it’s only two pints.” The operation went ahead, and initially Souness was recovering well enough to start walking and using an exercise bike. But an infection developed, forcing the doctors to open his chest again. He also developed fluid on his lungs and became so breathless that he could barely speak. “You have to do something, I can’t breathe.” There were four or five doctors standing around him, and his wife Karen was so distressed watching what was happening that she fainted against the wall. Eventually, one of the doctors rolled him onto his side and inserted a needle into his chest three times to drain the fluid. Souness never forgot the pain, but he could finally breathe properly again. Back in intensive care, he lay awake with only a night-light on, staring at the clock. “This is how you die, so I’m not going to sleep.” He had always considered himself physically strong, but now he was struggling to recognise the man looking back at him in the mirror. And while he was recovering in hospital, another problem was developing. Souness had agreed to give an exclusive interview to The Sun about his operation. The interview appeared two days before the 15th of April, but a photograph of him recovering in hospital was published on the third anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster. Souness had been managing Rangers when 97 Liverpool supporters suffered the fatal injuries at Hillsborough in 1989, and he had badly underestimated the feeling towards the newspaper on Merseyside. The fallout damaged his relationship with Liverpool fans, and Souness later admitted he should have resigned immediately. But he was still recovering from major surgery and convinced himself that within a couple of months he would be back to normal. Instead, he spent 28 days in hospital and took almost a year to feel like himself again. He began suffering panic attacks and found himself becoming emotional over things that previously would never have bothered him. Yet he continued managing. Liverpool won the FA Cup that May, and Souness remained in charge until January 1994. Looking back, he regretted ignoring what his health was telling him. But there was one decision from those years that troubled him even more. The interview with The Sun. “It ultimately soured my relationship with the Liverpool supporters forever.” “If I could turn one thing round in my football career, it would be that.” #football