Mostly agree, but not with the second sentence. I do think at one point he's on the edge of shedding a tear. My guess is that the banners praising him contributed to it, in addition to YNWA.
Benitez to be Newcastle Manager..
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Mostly agree, but not with the second sentence. I do think at one point he's on the edge of shedding a tear. My guess is that the banners praising him contributed to it, in addition to YNWA.
Although I'm not the biggest fan of Houllier's teams, I wonder why he's not honoured in that Soviet-style banner. Granted, he never won a European Cup or Champions League, but he won more trophies (ignoring the Community Shields each of them won) than Benitez (albeit the UEFA Cup has less prestige than the CL trophy), and he brought these trophies home at a time when we needed a moral booster at the club. I'm not saying that Benitez shouldn't be there, just curious why Houllier doesn't make it.
Dude, he won us the Champions League...he took us to a 2nd final.
Houllier didn't even manage to take us past the quarters.
Also Houllier is probably the reason why weren't able to produce decent academy players for like 10 years.
Rafa fixed that. It's not only about Rafa's achievements it's also about what he did for the club in general.
Dude I said it wasn't about questioning Benitez's presence in that flag.
Some of you get a real hard on every time Benitez's name is mentioned and there's a question at the end of a paragraph.
To be honest I don't remember why Houllier isn't that loved. I was never really to keen on him, I mean the way he got rid of Fowler, the whole Ginola affair, blaming everything from the pitch to the referee to the fucking weather every time we lost. To me he just seemed like a dick sometimes.
What cemented it was how he later on tried to take credit for Benitez winning us the CL.
Rafa depite winning us the biggest club trophy in the world did other things to cement his legendary status.
Like re-signing Fowler. I bet Rosco was crying like a kid when he made his return.
There's more, like when he watched a game in a pub with the fans, but I can't be arsed to list everything.
Domestic cup success really isn't that rated by fans anymore, as special as the parade with 3 trophies was that season.
It's the fact that Rafa managed that team into winning a European Cup which separates the pair.
We've not got that many records left to claim more success than the mancs, what he archived still keeps us as the most successful British team of all time in European football.
It couts for a lot, at least for me.
It's the fact that Rafa managed that team into winning a European Cup which separates the pair.
We've not got that many records left to claim more success than the mancs, what he archived still keeps us as the most successful British team of all time in European football.
It couts for a lot, at least for me.
Houllier is loved, but Rafa's achievement's surpass his. I would agree that Houllier probably should be there too though.
I can get why Houllier wasn't liked as much towards the final two seasons, which was when all the turning corners and excuses came out. I suppose from the start, there was a bad aftertaste (rightly or wrongly) with how the joint management thing came about (stupid, stupid, stupid move there), and yeah, getting rid of Fowler wasn't the smartest thing to endear himself to fans, although if I remember right, the price at that time was decent for a player who was on the way down - I hated losing Fowler but I could see the logic of that.
I wanted Houllier gone at the end, but regardless of those flaws, I thought it was harsh that his work in the treble season and the 5 trophies we won wasn't recognized with a place in the banner. I google'd and see that it was a banner commissioned by the Irishkop, but couldn't find an answer for it. Obviously, it's their banner and their choice who should or shouldn't be on it.
I wanted Houllier gone at the end, but regardless of those flaws, I thought it was harsh that his work in the treble season and the 5 trophies we won wasn't recognized with a place in the banner. I google'd and see that it was a banner commissioned by the Irishkop, but couldn't find an answer for it. Obviously, it's their banner and their choice who should or shouldn't be on it.
Houllier was exactly what we needed at the time, and his achievements in the short term were very impressive. We got back to winning trophies and qualifying for the Champions League. He couldn't, however, take us to the next stage, and was starting to take us backwards, so it was right that he left when he did.
Benitez did take us to the next stage, building on Houllier's work and improving on it.
They both achieved a lot. I guess the difference is that whereas it was obvious that Houllier had to go when he did, some feel that Benitez could have achieved even more if given the chance to do so.
Benitez did take us to the next stage, building on Houllier's work and improving on it.
They both achieved a lot. I guess the difference is that whereas it was obvious that Houllier had to go when he did, some feel that Benitez could have achieved even more if given the chance to do so.
Well first of all, the banner kind of glorifies communism, so I wouldn't worry too much about who's on it full stop. But secondly I really don't think Houllier deserves to be in that company. Personally I never thought he was up to that much - the main caveat being how much his illness changed him, which we can never really know. He had a reasonable amount of success, but I still don't think people realise quite the scale of his spending, and he was lucky to have Gerrard emerge on his watch. And the football was often unwatchable.
True, but similarly Benitez was lucky to have Gerrard, Carra and possibly Hyypia all at or approaching their best when he look over
The response when Ged came back from illness was unforgettably emotional. The season after that I think we were all increasingly disturbed and depressed by the feeling that he'd gone slightly mad. All the same, it was because Ged had made us back into a European team that made us attractive enough to get Benitez, and he deserves great respect for what he did. When he came back with Villa I think the reception was very fitting.
Yeah, but managers are basically judged against expectations, and as such those things were already priced in when Benitez took over. Plus Hyypia was probably past his peak - he was only first choice for the first 2 seasons. And I'm not even sure Carragher was playing centre half in 03/04 - I think I've heard people claim he was, but I don't remember myself. I must've blocked it out.
Fair enough.
Carragher did play centre back in Houllier's last season, but not all the time. Looking back it seems that the defence changed from week to week.
I do remember Biscan playing centre back at times though. That is something I have attempted to block out.
I remember it similarly. Before Rafa arrived, it was usually Biscan or Henchoz who was partnering Hyypia. Carra had rarely played CB. It was Rafa that helped establish the partnership and Carra as a CB.
Houllier did give Carra a number of games at CB, but it wasn't a success. To my mind Carra was undoubtedly better at fullback, especially LB, at that time and TBF that's where Houllier usually played him.
As for Houllier himself: when things went sour later on, I and others warned that he'd tarnish his legacy if he kept hanging on. Unfortunately he did, tho' that was because he loves the club as much as Rafa does.
As for Houllier himself: when things went sour later on, I and others warned that he'd tarnish his legacy if he kept hanging on. Unfortunately he did, tho' that was because he loves the club as much as Rafa does.
Bloody hell, that's an absolute load of crap right there.
One of GH's best moves was being able to move Fowler on for 11m - and I loved Robbie as a player to the nth degree. But he represented so much that was wrong with Liverpool at the time - he had to shape up or be shipped and GH proved to have the stones to do it. I also remember GH's name being chanted and sung by the Kop after it became clear he was moving Fowler on. They still cheered Robbie at the time but, like most fans, knew what he was doing.
As for the interview regarding our CL interview - he said the exact opposite. He was asked in the interview whether he he found it strange that he didn't receive more credit for "his team" winning the CL. A dick of a question trying to get a controversial answer. GH replied that the only credit he deserved for the CL win was that he'd managed to get the team into the top 4 in the previous season. He gave all credit to Rafa for that triumph and the pathetic, ignorant efforts of some fans to make up stories to the contrary really pisses me off.
As for Newcastle. I don't know why Rafa would take on the job. He'd certainly improve them markedly and have them performing vastly better than they currently are. That said, he'd get grief from the fans for not playing the "sexy football" that they seem to think they should be witnessing every week. In addition, what the fans think seems to matter significantly at St James and he'd almost certainly get booted despite taking them from 4th last to top 6. He surely doesn't need the money so badly as to put himself through that kind of ordeal.
Not the money, no, but my guess is that he reckons he needs (a) the exposure to keep his name in people's minds and (b) the ongoing experience to keep himself up-to-date, at a club big enough to get its fair share of media and other attention. I also suspect he'd prefer it to be an English club, partly for family reasons (Merseyside being the family's home now) and partly because that might leave him more handily placed to respond quickly if the call back to Anfield ever comes. I don't think it will, but I also don't think he's about to give up hope of that happening.
Oh I know who Newcastle might get - Laurent Blanc. He'll feel all at home with his team.
Bullshit.
"When Liverpool won the European Cup in Istanbul, I went into the changing room. It was an emotional moment but I sat shyly in the corner. Then all the players came to me to hug me and say 'This is your team. This is your team'. It was funny because until then I hadn't even noticed that, apart from two players, I had signed and worked with every player in that team.
- Houllier
I sat shyly in the corner...right...
Then he adds apart from two players. Two VERY KEY PLAYERS!!!
"When Liverpool won the European Cup in Istanbul, I went into the changing room. It was an emotional moment but I sat shyly in the corner. Then all the players came to me to hug me and say 'This is your team. This is your team'. It was funny because until then I hadn't even noticed that, apart from two players, I had signed and worked with every player in that team.
- Houllier
I sat shyly in the corner...right...
Then he adds apart from two players. Two VERY KEY PLAYERS!!!
It probably is true, I haven't checked. But the problem is that he's implying that he would have won the Champions League if he had stayed on. He wouldn't have.
[Cut to screenshot of GH sitting on a bench in the altogether, steam clearing to show Gordon Ramsay looking angrily at him while brandishing a meat cleaver]
That quote has been discredited, by my count, nearly a dozen times now. GH said he never said nor wrote anything like it.
The interview is fully available for anyone who wants to download it - you can watch his lips move and listen to the actual words he spoke. At no stage does he claim to have had any more influence on the CL title than finishing 4th the previous season. He does admit getting satisfaction from seeing players he bought into the club have such success - you'd certainly hope so.
GH was a fan of Liverpool FC, standing in the Kop with the rest of the fans, long before he was ever appointed manager. As he said in his final interview: " I joined Liverpool as a fan of the club and I leave as an even bigger fan of the club".
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