LFC is different from other clubs. Managers will always be backed to the hilt, both in terms of the time they're given and the money they have at their disposal to try and mould the team into one capable of taking on all comers. You only need to look at Blackburn, Leeds and Newcastle in recent history to see how chairmen get greedy and desperate in such a quest, throwing money at the first team but disposing of managers if results don't happen overnight.
For all the failings of Houllier and the sheer lack of impact that many of his signings had, the money he was given to try and make things happen was actually quite astonishing. For Moores and the board to fork out at a club in flux like LFC were for the latter part of the 90s, and to allow us to still be competitive in the transfer market clearly was a major financial risk, but one backed with huge heart and huge belief that the good times would roll once more. The treble season in many ways just fed the belief that it was all within touching distance, and while it didn't happen for us under Houllier, for our chairmen to keep backing and backing said everything about the passion he has for the club. Shame that GH wasn't the right man.
Rafa has impressed me greatly with his activity in the transfer market, and it's clear that he's the kind of man that David Moores needed to have in charge of the first team following the excesses of GH's tenure. Just a shame that the money involved in the business of football has started to overtake Moores' financial clout, and although the road has been long to today's takeover announcement, he got us here with the club in a good financial state, with good strength in depth throughout the squad, with an academy system in place, well down the road to having work begin on a new stadium, and - let's face it - looking like a football club on the verge of great things once more.
Today the club loses a chairman that has done the fans proud for almost 16 years. Even his final act says stacks about the noble and proper way in which he conducts his business - we've been b*tching and moaning on the internet about how worried we all are about what DiC or Gillett and co would do to our club, while he's had them all round his house, passionately grilling them all about what he expects from a successful takeover bidder. A quiet man in the press, I'll bet my life that he's nowhere near as quiet when the big questions about what happens next at the club he's run so impeccably for so long. It's taken a very long time, but if you love something as much as David Moores loves LFC, you won't let it go until you know 100% that the people taking over are going to take care of the club.
Enjoy the life presidency Mr Moores. You deserve it.
