Liverpool FC Forum

by **stmichael** » Tue May 25, 2004 9:05 pm

In my humble opinion THE VERY first thing every Liverpool fan should do is say thanks:

To a decent man who gave his all. To a leader whose commitment, passion and desire to take their team back to the pinnacle of European football could not be questioned.

To a disciplinarian who revolutionised the players' training, preparation and lifestyles.

To a workaholic who tore the lining of his heart in pursuit of re-uniting the words Liverpool and glory. And who, for five very special days in May three years ago, did precisely that.

But when the thanks to Gerard Houllier are done, those fans should thank the board for doing what the Frenchman himself did to Paul Ince, Sander Westerveld, Robbie Fowler, Markus Babbel, Jari Litmanen, Nicolas Anelka and Emile Heskey. Ruthlessly discarded sentiment and told them their time at Anfield was up.

It's not cruel, it's not unfair, it's not even football. It's life at the top of a world-famous sporting institution which generates more than £100million-a-year, and which for two years has been sliding backwards.

Statistics, as Houllier frequently reminded us, rarely lie. And these were the ones which ultimately mattered.

He took over a team six years ago which had just climbed from fourth to third, lying 13 points behind champions Arsenal, and he promised the Premiership within five years.

Not only did he fail to achieve that, he oversaw Liverpool's removal from the top three, and left them battling for fourth place, 30 points behind Arsenal, and nearer relegation than the title.

Houllier's slick five-year plan had become his managerial suicide note.

Yesterday, he implied that it was pressure from media critics and former players which got him the sack. It wasn't. It was the fans.

They remembered his declaration when he signed, in 1998: "Liverpool finished third last season, and that would be considered a good achievement by many. But not by us. We have to improve the team and reach out for top place."

They contrasted that with his words in this season's final match programme, that finishing fourth was a "massive achievement". And it didn't add up.

They watched an uninspiring, one-dimensional style of play,and deemed it so unacceptable Anfield ceased to attract full houses. And that didn't add up in the boardroom. Fans brought up on winning football played with fluency, speed of thought, passion and movement, were watching losing football bereft of those qualities.

And when the Kop started to register their frustration, by chanting "attack, attack, attack", Houllier committed the fatal error of attacking them. "Supporters should support," he said. "I don't know why they were moaning."

Houllier was not just questioning the Kop's loyalty, but its knowledge of football.

And that's when the hard-core minority who still fought his corner on the Kop and in the boardroom stopped doing so. Instead they questioned Houllier's own wisdom.They contrasted his poor foreign buys with Arsene Wenger's, they tired of the excuses which saw everyone blamed but himself and the bizarre trotting out of match stats aimed at convincing the ignorant masses that they had not been watching the same game as him.

Fans and board feared another poor summer in the transfer market, followed by another poor season of excuses, with Michael Owen and Steven Gerrard being lured to clubs who aspire to coming first, not fourth. And the chairman was steam-rollered into submission.

Having criticised David Moores, I commend him for looking beyond a friendship and doing the best thing for everyone concerned. Liverpool was crying out for change. Not just new money to compete with the top three, but a new leader with new ideas.

As for Houllier, every Liverpool fan will genuinely wish him well. Overall he struck the kind of chord with them which very few men do. Hopefully he will go down in Anfield folklore as someone who laid the foundations for a new era of success.

Had he not come back from heart surgery though, he might possibly have gone down as a legend to be mentioned in the same breath as Bill Shankly.

That 11-hour operation and its after-effects were the turning-point in Houllier's reign. He returned to Anfield with an air of invincibility.

In the final reckoning it wasn't Houllier's utterances but his poor judgement of players which did for him. He spent more than £100m and, with a few exceptions, it was wasted on too many heartless journeymen.

ynwa

by **JBG** » Tue May 25, 2004 9:16 pm

StMichael: IMO thats a brilliant, well thought out post.

Fair play to you.

I think the problem with the fans was a major factor in Gerard going in the end.

There were a couple of alarming Saturday's last season when our attendances began to drop, and that had to ring alarm bells in the board, if nothing else.

by **Owzat** » Tue May 25, 2004 10:02 pm

Houllier fired a parting shot by blaming "pressure" for his demise ie fans and media. Funnily enough I blame "results" or lack of for his demise :laugh:

by **big al** » Tue May 25, 2004 10:52 pm

StMichael good post mate well done.

by **supersub** » Tue May 25, 2004 11:16 pm

Brian Reade is the ST MICHAEL

by **banana** » Tue May 25, 2004 11:45 pm

Brilliant stuff

by **greenred** » Wed May 26, 2004 12:04 am

Yeah good article.The Mirror can still get it right occasionally.

by **zarababe** » Wed May 26, 2004 12:17 am

Since we're in the proverb mood on this one let me put my pennies worth-in... not that I don't agree with what has been said already, nevertheless the case of Houllier and the fans, respectively, is like....the wise forget insults, as the ungrateful a kindness.. The man did his best ... he's gone.. it's time to move on.

[I]

by **greenred** » Wed May 26, 2004 12:20 am

Amen to that.

by **Big Niall** » Wed May 26, 2004 9:36 am

Great article - now lets all put the GH nightmare behind us and move on. I'm still giddy at the thought of a new season with a new manager.

How about Roy Keane as player manager (swapping Gerrard the other way?)

by **anfieldadorer** » Wed May 26, 2004 9:41 am

What a depth Mike.

No space remaining to comment more on your points.

by **Santa** » Wed May 26, 2004 11:36 am

Good post stmichael, I couldn't have said it any better.
To think that the club let GH to have a go at winning the league after 6 years showed patience abundance. He shouldn't have complained nor surprised to get the boot.
The parting shots like "there's no quick fix for the club" is difficult to comprehend. 6 years and £120M later and you still cannot assembled a sustained tile challenge, let alone winning the league...you deserve to leave in shame. "unfinished business"? ... I said that was finished sometime back. You advertised that you will be able to bring us success within 5 years, (which is more than reasonable than most other clubs are willing to tolerate) and you failed, miserably. Besides, what will another year change what you cannot create after 6 years?
Enough of looking back at GH. Time to move on folks. I would say thanks to Houllier for his scarifies, hard work and the good times back in 2001. It’s better that you leave now so the club will be able to move forward, if you still support the club as you claimed to do.
Bring on Benitez or O’Neill. The rest can join the queue for Everton’s manager job.

by **WANDERER** » Wed May 26, 2004 11:49 am

Good riddance. Maybe now we can compete with the big boys. Whoever comes in should be banned from buying french players! Morgan should have been accepted. Move over Moores

by **LFC4EVER** » Wed May 26, 2004 2:09 pm

Its good, but he just copied it off the Daily Mirror. Sorry to rain on your parade!

by **woof woof !** » Wed May 26, 2004 3:42 pm

LFC4EVER wrote:Its good, but he just copied it off the Daily Mirror. Sorry to rain on your parade!

Thats ok , I can't afford to buy every paper out there.
Thanx St Mike.

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Houllier taking on the fans - That's what finished him

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