Graeme Souness fights back tears on live TV as he reveals next move after Sky Sports exit

GRAEME SOUNESS has revealed he is ditching punditry to swim the English Channel.

The Liverpool legend, 70, appeared on Sky Sports for the final time earlier this month after 15 years working for the company.

An emotional Graeme Souness revealed his plan to swim the English Channel on BBC Breakfast

He remained coy on his next move after stepping away from football.

But now he has confirmed he will be swimming he Channel for the charity DEBRA which supports people living with Epidemolysis Bullosa.

Explaining his decision to embark on the incredible challenge, he said: “It’s the most horrendous disease. If you’re inflicted by it you must wake up every morning and say why me. It’s a desperate situation.”

Souness then began to tear up as he continued to fight through the emotions to speak about the illness.

He added: “And then the parents have to deal with that. And that’s why we’re doing this.”

Souness’ meeting with a 14-year-old girl suffering from Epidemolysis Bullosa inspired him to take up the challenge four years ago.

And BBC Breakfast aired a segment of him returning to meet the young teenager – who he has stayed in touch with.

He sat down with her to discuss the impact of the degenerative disease – which has included her having plastic surgery on her hands.

Souness also became emotional when hearing about the pain the young girl goes through while having the bandages on her hands changed.

It comes just weeks after the ex-Scotland international said goodbye to those at Sky Sports following Liverpool’s 4-3 win over Tottenham.

He said: “I’m going to miss you guys, the guys behind the scenes, our makeup girl, I’ll miss you all.

“You know, for me, I decided that football management wasn’t for me anymore. I had the wrong temperament for it, the wrong personality.

“And then I was given the opportunity to do this and it’s been magnificent. It’s just been the most fantastic time for me, because I love football, I care about football and I worry about it going forward.

“But in Sky’s hands, it’s in good hands, safe hands, and I think over the years we’ve created a Premier League with great detail and I think we look after football very well.

“But for me personally, I’ve got the buzz of live football coming to some fantastic games and some fantastic stadiums and some great events.

“I think I owe 100 apologies to people, but we haven’t got time for that.

“I think people at home obviously don’t always agree with us, but it’s been great guys it really has.

“And it’s great right now to be amongst friends and nothing goes on forever, but I’ve got a lot of things coming up, I’m involved in my DEBRA charity and on the 27th of this month I’ll announce the challenge I’m getting involved in.

“But it’s been great so thank you to everyone.”