Liverpool increased his profile. Souness missed Scotland's first two matches, a defeat to Peru and a draw with Iran, due to injury. He was selected for the final group match against the Netherlands. Souness contributed to a 3–2 victory that nevertheless saw Scotland eliminated from the tournament on goal difference. Souness played in two further World Cups. The first, in 1982 in Spain, saw Souness play all three group stage matches. His first international goal arrived in the final game prior to elimination, a 2–2 draw with the Soviet Union in Málaga. A final World Cup appearance came in 1986 in Mexico, at a time when Souness had already been appointed Rangers player/manager. Souness played in defeats to Denmark and West Germany. He later said he had performed poorly in those matches, having struggled with the high altitude and losing a significant amount of weight and power. Souness was omitted by caretaker manager Alex Ferguson for Scotland's final match against Uruguay. Souness claimed in his autobiography, The Management Years, and press interviews that this was the only time in his whole career he had been dropped. Souness also stated Ferguson was unusually apologetic and was very respectful and diplomatic in his conversation with Souness at night when he broke the news to him, as he held Souness in high regard. His international career ended after the 1986 World Cup. He had made 54 appearances in almost 12 years, scoring four goals. Coaching and managerial career Rangers Souness was appointed Rangers' first player-manager in April 1986, signing from Sampdoria for a fee of £300,000 and succeeding Jock Wallace. Financed initially by the club's then owner, Lawrence Marlborough, Souness and club chairman David Holmes embarked upon a bold strategy of reclaiming the footballing ascendancy Rangers had lacked in recent years, having not won the league title since 1978, with all of the Scottish league titles since then being claimed by their arch-rivals Celtic, and the emerging "New Firm" of Aberdeen and Dundee United. A 33-year-old Souness arrived at Ibrox with a reputation as one of Europe's leading midfielders, a view evidenced by his success at Liverpool and, to a lesser extent, with Sampdoria. His signing was unusual in that Scottish clubs had rarely been able to sign top-quality internationals, including Scots, from other leagues. Scottish clubs had often found themselves being in the position of selling their top players to English clubs,