Liverpool icon Graeme Souness recognised in King’s birthday honours list after £1.5m landmark

Graeme Souness has been awarded a CBE in the King’s birthday honours list.

Liverpool icon Graeme Souness has been awarded a CBE in the King’s Birthday honours list after his ‘life-changing’ charity work.

The 71-year-old tasted spells as a player and a manager at Anfield winning the English first division five times and the European Cup on three occasions, adding an FA Cup to the tally during his time in the dugout.

Souness has been recognised for his services and support to charity after his efforts to raise awareness of epidermolysis bullosa (EB). The Scot is a vice-president of DEBRA UK, who refer to themselves as ‘The Butterfly Skin Charity’, and raised over £1million for the charity after embarking on the challenge of swimming 30 miles of the English channel.

“I am delighted and humbled to receive this honour,” Souness said. “It has been a life-changing few years working so closely with DEBRA UK as vice-president and none more so than this last year when I was part of a great team, swimming the English Channel to raise vital funds and awareness for DEBRA UK and EB.

“It is wonderful that the King has honoured me with a CBE and it is important to acknowledge the whole team which works tirelessly to find solutions to the intolerable pain, itch and inflammation of this horrendous condition. This is for my friend Isla and everyone else living with EB.”

The money raised from the challenge helped DEBRA test existing drugs which could be life-changing and significantly improve the quality of life for those with the disease. EB is a degenerative condition that attacks children’s organs and development, EB causes one’s skin to become fragile and often results in painful blisters.

Souness first became aware of the disease five years ago when he met a 14-year-old girl named Isla, with the pair staying in touch. Speaking last year, he said: “It is the most horrendous disease.

If you’re inflated by it, you must wake up every morning and say ‘Why me?’ It is a desperate situation, and then the parents have to deal with that – and that’s what we’re doing.”