Liverpool FC Forum

[big al]

Today was not the worst thing that's happened to Liverpool FC.  In fact compared to Hillsbrough its meaningless.  Therefore getting angry and frustrated is in fact pointless.  We have seen many worse things than a defeat in a football match so guys think about this its not the end of the world.

All that said we do need to reflect on the state of Liverpool and the direction we are going in.  Today was the end of any potential national cup for this season.  We can still acheive a uefa cup.  The league is definitely gone for another year and our thanks should be given that we can at least get into the Champions league in fourth.  I don't personally think we will, infact I believe that we will get no trophies and no fourth place because we are not good enough. 

Gerrard Houllier has been a good servant of Liverpool he brought stability when it was needed, he brought hope in a time of dispair and I thank him for the chance to stick both my fingers up at Man U And Arsenal fans. The truth is however he has given his all he has tried everything he can to make Liverpool a better team.  Its like the story of Peter and the Dyke.  Houlier stemed the flow of water but he had not the ability to fix it on his own.  Like Peter, Gerrard Houllier stopped the walls tumbling in on us, he was our salvation in a time of gloom but he and his predecessor Roy Evans where not, are not the men to build us back up to our former glory

Don't get me wrong many of the key ingredients are present but we have lost the creativity and the finishing that put us above everyone else.  ManU and Arsenal reign supreme in our abscense. We must turn the tables so what do we need.

1, Houllier should leave and let anew manager take the helm  ( i don't personally believe that O'neill is the right man it all hype and no substance Houllier himself has a better record than O'Neill) It therefore requires someone who has the following talents
a The ability to analyse top flight opposition, their weaknesses and are own to be have a killer instinct qnd yet have compassion, compassion brings understanding and empathy.
b  The ability to re-dress weakness by finding the best people not necessarily the most expensive or those available.  The manager needs to think long term like Madrid.  Select the player then build up a war chest the get your man.  This was the Liverpool way of old Patience is its own reward.
c  A footballer who played and knows the highs and lows, a winner, a battler someone who can fight against the odds yet make superior odds work on his behalf.  Someone who understands football its players , its ways and its difficulties.
d  Someone who has the ambition to want to build a empire a football club to dominate, someone who is in for the long haul, some who has commitment, passion. belief, understanding,
e Someone who the minute he walks in the doors at Anfield everyone repects, someone who fears no one.

We don't need the darling of the media, we don't need the forum users here to pick him we need the chairman to get off his a#se and start looking, david Moores needsto follow the Moores tradition.  Shankly came with no outstanding public record but those within the game knew the little man from Ayrshire was destined for greatness.

At the 85 minute mark today the camera panned to the face of Gerrard Houllier in the corner of his right eye was a tear, it was asign of a man who had a dream to rebuild Liverpool into its former greatness.  His face was a marked contrast to that of the man who came to us with ambition and desire.  He may have come to Liverpool through the back door and I don't personally think he was honest enough.  however when I saw that tear I realised that he cared he had a dream but the truth is the dream was to much for him to deliver. 

Houllier is not failing because he's stupid or incompetant, he isn't failing because he dosent want to win, its not that he has no vision or hunger.  Its simply that he has given his all, he's tried his best just like Peter and the Dyke, now he must step back and let the tradesman builder finish the job.

[THEBARON]

Yes I completely agree with you Big Al - Moores and Parry need to get their fingers out. I note and accept your reservations about Martin O'Neill but looking at your list of candidate credentials there are not many outstanding applicants to fill the post.
Perhaps a partnership would be the answer ? ??

[Stan Laurel]

Excellent post, Big Al, I do agree with your post,
But, I wondering why you said that O'Neill is not right man for Liverpool's job to takeover from GH, I like to see your points of view, Big Al.
So, who do you think who is the right man for Liverpool's job?

[leothelion]

nice one al dont think i could have made such a calm post tonight
what i am thinking is that i dont want to qualify for europe if we cant beat pompey we would be a laughting stock against the top teams

[Dalglish]

Superb evaluation of a dream thats died for GH and thankfully not a hint of a vendetta just an honest appraisal iof whats gone wrong for Gh over the last 18 months. i've been a  defender of GH this season primarily on the basis that he had many key players out with injuries but sadly over the last 6+ games its become apparrent to me that he no longer is able to motivate the players. I was at Wolves, Newcastle(Fa Cup) Portsmouth (FA cup) Bolton and Everton  and to be honest we played some good attacking football. portsmouth replay was gutless and very por against what was in effect Portsmouth's second 11. Thanks for giving us some wonderful memories GH, especialy 2001 and also victories over the Mancs twice at OT but the shows over........ time for a change............  Walk On ..............

[Owzat]

I've become numbed against our results over the last season or so, mainly because this type of result is no longer a "shock". I have no faith in Houllier and until he goes I doubt I will have much optimism

[Scottbot]

Am in full agreement with Big Al. Houllier looks completely spent. An injury ravaged Pompey side were there to be ravaged in the first half but we could not rise to the task. We couldn't pass the ball, there was no movement and most inportantly, there was no belief, you could see it on the faces of all the players.

During his after-match interview Gerrard said "we played well, we tried hard" They didn't Gerrard. It was a poor performance (or was i watching a different game) and i don't understand why GH didn't atleast recognise it. I hope for the sake of the club and his own that GH steps down very soon. He must surely see that he has lost the fans and the players seem to have followed suit. It seems he is hanging on in the blind hope that he can turn things around. I hope he goes soon, with dignity, while he still can because i think it will get nasty if he hangs on much longer.

[JBG]

Excellent post Big Al.

Houllier is not a muppet, he is a reasonably good manager. He loves the club and he has sweated blood to try and make us big again.

However, his plan has unravelled in the past 18 months and sometimes all the effort and good intentions in the world are not enough.

Its a pity that when he goes many fans will remember him for his failures and not his success.

However, unless the board decide to take a suicidal approach by keeping him on, we are currently witnessing the death rattle of the Houllier regime.

I'm upset that he didn't succeed, but he should go soon or forever be tainted as a hate figure among Pool fans worldwide.

[big al]

Ive said some nasty things myself about the man Houllier, but I saw in his eyes on Tv a full frontal of a broken man who had a dream. And I was remind at that point of the lines of a Beatles song 

"A day in the life"

"I saw the news today oh boy, about a lucky who made the grade."

Well for a while he did make the grade and he had us all with him.  But Shankly's Slogan this is Anfield was not merely meant to be a solitary vision of the dreams of himself, ()Bill Shankly). 
Otherwise we would have had no Joe Fagan, no Bob Pasiley, no Kenny Dalglish.  Shankly was never alone he had giants beside him all the way. He walked away because he knew that although he had made us great he had left us a legacy of vision of people and a pact with destiny. 
'The greatest footballing team on earth' is struggling because around us we have people that are blind, destiny is trying to honour her part of the Shankly deal but the Directors, executives, coaches and management don't know or understand what mysteries and promise lie with the corridors of Anfield, they don't understand the dream. 

We are the team that is living the words of Lennon and McCartney we have not took notice and evolved we are like the man in the song
" He blew his mind out in a car because he did'nt notice the lights had changed"

Well the lights have changed, and now the lights are going out, not because we have no  Bill Shankly not because we have no Fagan, Paisley, Dalglish, or even that we had  Souness or Evans. 

We once were the team that made British football the greatest in the world but the lights have changed, the lights along with the dream are slowly dying. I could tell you all who the right person is but I won't you think for yourself.  Thats why you support Liverpool, you my friends at the risk of being arogant( because I'm one of you) are the best football fans in the world.  You all, including Stu know more about football than all the idiots who have ever stood on the terraces or sit in the stands of all the clubs in England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland. Because your team has always represented them all. Stu take note ( represented the all). 
Paddy English man, Paddy Sotts man, Paddy Irish man and Paddy Welsh man once build a team. They conquered the world.

I'm in a musical mood so let me remind you also of the words of the Cars " we can't go on thinking nothings wrong"

Time for poetry and the words of Shelley

Rise like lions after slumber, Ye the most unvanqenchable number

shake your chains to earth like dew, which in sleep befallen you.

Ye are many they are few

Let the vast assembley be, and with great solemnity,

Declare that Ye are as god made you free

[JohnBull]

"You always want hungry players, but the country is getting richer and that's already been bad for boxing. I can also see it harming football."
BILL SHANKLY 1968 (YES ! 1968)
It is no surprise that when the chips are down for Liverpool Football Club it is The Scousers who do their best to turn it round. As a manager what you don't do is rid the club of those players with a hunger based on their pride of being scousers and replace them with journeymen who are here for the money.
Houllier seems to miss the point that one of the most valuable assets a player can have is that shame of defeat that determination not to let the side down. Both he and Moores could do with spending more time at The Acadamy in Kirkby and look at the faces of those kids there who want to win for the club, the money coming second.
My 7 year old youngest has just had three days there last week and there must have been a couple of hundred kids in Liverpool kits with the dream. It was obvious that there is a link missing between Kirkby and Melwood that results in Hungry Scousers being replaced by mediocre French etc who do not realise how lucky they are.

[Gareth G]

big al, who the hell are you?

you're like a LFC fallen angel or something, you have a lot of true passion in you're blood!

[kozarets1914]

Alright... I'm impressed Big Al - you live and breathe with football and I see lots and lots of football wisdom in your words. Congratulations!!! One of the things that can happen to LFC is being kicked out from UEFA by Levski - the bosses need a hard slap in their faces and this will be a powerful one. And I think if this happens nextyear you'll have at least one bulgarian in your squad - your next great star who'll lead LFC to success. Oh, come on - let me dream for a while

[greenred]

nice on al.

[ynwa]

there has been 3 managers who have raped liverpool daglish souness and now gh

[Dalglish]

Your well out of order there "YNWA" !!!!! to equate Either GH or Dalglish with Souness is Low and downright wrong! your outbusrts might sound good in the pub but thankfully is has little effect on here...... you dont even attempt to substantiate what you are saying
The vilification Of GH at the moment is bordering on hysteria and you could afford the man a little respect for trying his best and although not quite managing it came a clot closer than most !!!!!! Respect is something LFC stand for , Shanks demanded it, Paisley epitomised it and GH brought it back when quite frankly we were going nowhere. Personally he has given me some of my gretest memories watching LFC and for that I thank him.Ok he didn't bring back the Holy grail but he nearly died trying so remeber that when you feel like dropping your disrespectful soundbites in next time ....

YNWA ? Your having a  laugh !!!!!!!