I heard this morning that Rick Parry and David Moores have again come out in support of Houllier, and Parry says Houllier will be here next year (although hinted that may be dependent on Champions League football).
I don’t know what other people think but my feeling that the club is slowly slitting its own throat.
We have had two terrible seasons where our league form has been very poor and our results against the likes of Charlton, Birmingham, Portsmouth, Sunderland etc over the past 18 months has been unacceptable.
I used to be a supporter of Gerard Houllier and even now I find it difficult not to like the man.
However, his experiment has backfired and it is clear that deep down he has lost the heart and support of the players.
I think that he had gambled on adding a lot of youth and potential to his good side of 2001 and 2002 in the hope that these young players who take the places of some of the guys from the treble winning season and establish a side capable of dominating the Premiership in the long term.
However, some of the young players he has signed, none more so that Igor Biscan, simply haven’t lived up to their promise.
Also, I am a firm believer that the atmosphere and philosophy of Gerrard Houllier’s Liverpool, with its emphasis on negative football and safety first approach, is simply not a good breathing ground for talented young players like Baros, Le Tallec, Pongolle, Partridge and Welsh. These young fellas need to be playing the ball on the ground and allowing their talent to flourish, and not, as is happening to Le Tallec, having to challenge the opposition left back for long punts down the right wing.
I think that even if we finish fourth and win the UEFA Cup, Houllier should go. Our league form has been poor for two seasons and I have no confidence in Houllier being able to stop the rot.
There will be some good material for a new manager to work with in the summer, but the danger is that if we suffer another underperforming season next year, it will be patently clear that something is deeply wrong (in my mind its already clear) and we will fall further and further behind the top clubs and probably be eclipsed by Newcastle as well.
I think if Houllier is given another chance, then the club will have pressed the self destruct button and the damage that we will suffer next season will put us, in my opinion, 10 years away from achieving our holy grail, the Premiership.