My Rangers, the new autobiography by Graeme Souness makes a poor first impression.

It’s a strange cover choice because it’s not like there’s a shortage of photographs of Souness during his time with Rangers. He was back page and front page news during his spell at the club. There was a tabloid circulation war in Scotland at the time and Souness was box office, he dominated the media here in a way that really only Paul Gascoigne has come close to emulating.

For reasons we can only speculate about, Chick Young was chosen to ghost write the book. I’ve never fully bought Young’s claims to be a St Mirren fan, but having read this book I can say with some certainty he’s definitely not a Rangers supporter. It’s the little things that grate. While looking for a simile to explain season 1987/88, a difficult one for the club, we’re told “Rangers have an old song about the road being broad or narrow”. Is it too much to expect them to get the first line of the club’s song right? Later we’re told that “All its days Rangers had refused to knowingly sign a Roman Catholic”, apparently the first fifty years of the club’s existence don’t count. Strangely Oleg Kuznetzov’s name becomes “Oleh” in the telling of his injury at St Johnstone.

While maybe all of these can be excused as simply a lack of attention to detail there’s one error that defies belief. The signing of Maurice Johnston is given its own chapter. For those of us old enough to remember it’s a genuine ‘where were you when you heard’ moment and my fellow Gersnet contributor Colin Armstrong dedicated a fine blog to his experience of the time. It was a signing that not only strengthened Rangers but it’s affect on Celtic, both on the pitch and psychologically, can’t be measured. The following season was the second in nine-in-a-row, that’s how long it took them to recover.

The basic story is that Johnston had decided to return to Scotland and to Celtic from French football. Celtic, delighted to have him back, famously paraded him as a new signing prior to the Scottish Cup Final. Signing Johnston was a coup, he was a superb player at the peak of his powers and the Celtic support undoubtedly took a lift from it following a season where Rangers were champions and had beaten them 5-1 and 4-1. It was premature. There was a problem with the deal, some say it was about a tax bill, some that it was Nantes fee, some that it was Johnston’s personal demands. Whatever it was apparently Souness pulled up Johnston’s agent, Bill McMurdo, after a game at Ibrox, for not telling him that Johnston wanted to return to Glasgow. McMurdo told him the deal with Celtic wasn’t agreed and the rest is history.

There has always been some confusion over how and when the initial conversation between Souness and McMurdo took place. This book does nothing to help clear that up, indeed it casts a huge shadow over that entire narrative. In the book Souness claims to have met McMurdo at Ibrox following a match against Aberdeen. But not just any match, “It was after the game - that day against Aberdeen when I lost my rag at Graham Roberts…”. No, no it wasn’t. That match took place a full year prior to Johnston’s signing. Some might argue how we came to sign Johnston is of little importance, but errors like this do lead to me question a lot of what’s written.

The book makes little attempt to properly analyse Souness, and particularly what drove him to leave. Souness himself explains he hadn’t taken a proper holiday in five years. When he left Italy to come to Rangers his wife and children didn’t join him. They later divorced, which must have taken a toll on him personally. His health was already a concern and within a year of leaving he had open heart surgery. His clashes with the media, the SFA and St Johnstone’s tea lady are all given as reasons. Why, after such success, was Souness still getting into so many confrontations?

For all it’s faults though this is still a book about one of the most important figures in Rangers history. It contains some insights and nuggets that I don’t think I ever knew. I love that Souness lived in an Edinburgh council house, with his dad, for the first 12 months as Rangers manager. He tried to sign Ruud Gullit from PSV Eindhoven, but was beaten to his signature by AC Milan, and that newspaper magnate, liar and pension thief, Robert Maxwell, tried to buy Rangers and wanted to buy Celtic too and merge them together. Some say Mossad killed Maxwell, but I think someone should check the alibis for the Union Bears now too.

The book also pays proper tribute to Walter Smith. Souness claims Smith initially agreed to join him at Liverpool, before changing his mind. How different might history have been for both clubs had he decided to leave too. He remains defensive, and supportive, of Sir David Murray. His loyalty to his friend is admirable, but if we’re giving credit for our successes he must also take the lion’s share of the blame for what eventually followed.

His detractors often paint Souness as a chequebook manager. There might be some truth in that but in his first season at Rangers he took the core of a squad that struggled to finish fifth the season before and turned them into champions. He did that in a league that was not only genuinely competitive but also of a very high standard. He’s rarely afforded the credit that he’s due and even in this book not enough is made of this.

For me there is little doubt that no man has had a greater influence on Scottish football in the modern era than Graeme Souness. A case could be made for Alex Ferguson, but his legacy at Aberdeen has been squandered by his countless successors, as has Jim McLean’s influence on Dundee United. There’s an argument for Fergus McCann, but he simply transformed Celtic, not the entire sport, and his influence was in the boardroom, while Souness spanned the pitch, the dugout and the boardroom all in five mesmerising years. His time at Rangers is of historical importance, not just for Rangers supporters, but for everyone interested in football.

One day a book will be written that does that period justice, unfortunately this isn’t it.

For more information on the book and where to buy it, you can check out Penguin Books' website here.