Liverpool FC Forum

[The_Rock]

I can't believe this ******. But it is interesting.


http://www.koptalk.org/forums....1



Melwood was rotting before Houllier came in says former Red

Former Liverpool striker Stan Collymore says he and his former Liverpool team-mates were on a free for all when Roy Evans was in charge at the club.

It's no secret that a number of players took advantage of nice-guy Evans but few have actually spoken out to admit this. I've been reading Stan Collymore's autobiography 'Tackling My Demons' and I've picked out some bits that may interest you.

Collymore says Melwood was a dump before Gerard Houllier came to the club which reminds us why we should never forget just how much of a positive impact the Frenchman made at the club before his illness, plus the fact that he rid the club of many cancerous personalities.

"At Melwood, their training ground, they even still had four wooden boards that the players used to use for passing practice during the Shankly days," said Collymore.

"I remember seeing footage of Jimmy Case banging shots against them one week when he was the only player left there after all the rest had gone away on international duty. By the time I arrived they were practically rotting away. But no one wanted to take them down. They were monuments to a time when Liverpool ruled Europe.

"Perhaps they should have turned them into a heritage site, organised coach tours so people could stare at them because that's all they were good for. But for people at the club, they brought back happy memories - for those who had memories that stretched back that far. Only after I had left and Gerard Houllier, an outsider, had arrived did a thorough modernisation of Melwood go ahead.

"The same reverence for links with the past meant that the senior players, in general, could pretty much do what they wanted, and even the younger ones took the ******. Some of them would wander out onto the training pitch from at Melwood still munching on a piece of toast from the canteen. Others, myself included, would be late almost as a matter of routine. One of the old Boot Room coaches, Ronnie Moran, took to calling me 'Fog in the Tunnel' because he thought I should had added some unlikely hold-up in the Mersey Tunel to my repertoire of reasons for panting in 15 minutes after everybody else. "What's the excuse today, Stan?" he'd say. "Fog in the tunnel?"

"Once, early on in my time there, I saw Rushie take aim at Ronnie Moran as he wandered over to one of the training pitches. He pinged the ball about 40 yards with his right foot and it hit Bugsy flush on the back of his balding head. He wheeled round in a rage, ready to give someone the bollocking of their life. "Who the [censored] did that?" he said. Rushie just put his hand up. "I did," he said. Bugsy started laughing and said something about Rushie being a joker and that was it.

"When Robbie Fowler did the same thing to Phil Thompson a few years ago, soon after I had left, the culture had changed at Liverpool and it wasn't tolerated. Fowler at a shot at Thommo which hit him, and Thommo went berserk. They had a blazing row and it turned into a huge confrontation. Houllier backed Thompson, and, even though Robbie eventually apologised, the incident turned into an issue t hat hastened his exit from the club he loved to Leeds United.

"As for John Barnes, he was more than just the captain. If Roy Evans, the manager, had put a particular training session on and Digger didn't like it, he'd just walk back to the changing rooms. "I ain't [censored] doing this," he would say. "It's [censored]." Don't forget that Roy had been the reserve-team coach when people like Digger were the superstars of the first team, and they still looked upon him as an underling. They patronised him. Digger had more say in our tactics than Roy Evans ever did. Roy was a lovely bloke but he wasn't strong enough to challenge the old guard.

"That's why Digger and Michael Thomas, who was his big mate, played in the centre of midfield. And centre of midfield was where our biggest weakness was. They were at the heart of everything when it was clear to everyone that they should not have been in the team. The two of them just weren't up to it. Digger had been a sublime player in his day but he wasn't a central midfielder. I think he was holding on, trying to manoeuvre himself into a prime position to become the next manager when the time came for Roy to get the boot.

"Rushie wasn't as forceful as Digger but he didn't take any [censored]. Mostly he just sat in his corner, getting on with hiw own business. He would give his all on the pitch but in the dressing room he gave the impression of not giving a [censored] what was going on because he knew he was coming to the end of his career.

"Things happened that shouldn't have been allowed to happen. They were small things but they were still things that, however subtly, undermined the idea that this was an outfit that was utterly dedicated to its profession. Robbie Williams, the pop superstar who was a mate of our goalkeeper David 'Jamo' James, was allowed to travel on the team coach to the last match of the season once. And the group of us known collectively as the Spice Boys - Jamo, Jamie Redknapp, Phil Babb, Robbie Fowler, Steve McManamanm Jason McAteer and me at the margins - were allowed to develop the kind of celebrity lifestyle that was eventually to spend me spinning towards Ulrika.

"Robbie and Macca would do most of their socialising on Merseyside, but for the rest of us, as soon as a game at Anfield finished on a Saturday afternoon, we would get changed as quickly as we could. Then we'd jump in a taxi we had waiting for us so that it could rush us over to Manchester Airport to allow us to catch the shuttle down to Heathrow. Sometimes we would drop our stuff off at the Halkin Hotel and then jump in another cab to take us the short ride to Soho."

Focusing on Evans again, Collymore added: "Roy Evans never harnessed our talent. He never really convinced me he was a man who had real footballing principles other than 'pass it and move, pass and move'. That was the Liverpool mantra but you needed something more than that. There was no one to provide it. Doug Livermore, the assistant manager, was the same kind of character as Roy."

[Starbridge42]

That must have been a very sorry state-of-affairs.

[LFC #1]

makes you appreciate the job Houllier did for the first 4 years or so even more. If what is said there is true (which i presume it is), it was a very sad state of affairs and Houllier did a fantastic job to take us from that into a treble winning team.

[kindaconfused]

The_Rock

Any enlightenment on his smacking of Ulrika in a pub and his domestic violence?

[The_Rock]

i guess u have to buy his book for that 

[Paul C]

It's sad to see that going on Anfield considering Evans had been there so long and should have instilled the discipline of past Liverpool managers in which he worked under.

Evans was a great guy and I was sad to see him leave even though he wasn't the right man for the job.

[taff]

We shouldnt forget that he was a loon

[parchpea]

What Collymore does not address is the players own responsibilty in maintain a professional attitude. I think anyone can see that Evans is a mild mannered character, but you do not take advantage of that. Evans deserved respect, but that does not seem to have been offered by certain individuals. Collymore should also remember it was Evans that gave him a chance to play at Anfield. Pity he and others did not appreciate the oppertunitys they had been given.

[Redrider]

Nothing new there, It was well known that discipline had gone to the wall under Evans, the only surprise is that Ruddock and Ince don't get a mention.

[long sleeved joe]

football was strange for players in those days because players were just beginning to make mega money and being seen as pop star like celebrities  but the traditional drinking  etc football culture was still in place.  It wasnt just L'pool players who were living that kind of unproffessional lifestyle they were all at it in those days.  But i accept that on the training pitch the boss should take no rubbish, that is sad to hear and probably the difference between us and man utd at the time.

[Redrider]

Remember the FA Cup Final and the cream coloured Armani suits !!
McMananman and Fowler were interviewed on the pitch before the game and came out with a load of rubbish, I knew from that moment there was nothing down for us. We were murdered by the manc's

[spud]

£8.5M spent on CollyWobble!

[Big Niall]

I hated Collymore, he had talent (at forest he was great) but really didn't seem to give a ****** sometimes. at least ****** players like Heskey seemed to try but sometimes "Stan" barely ran.

Evans was never big enough to manage LFC. GH did well on the discipline side, it was just a lack of knowledge about football and spotting good players (avoid Senegal) that did him in.