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Houllier

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Gary25

Gary25

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Random one this, but in light of all this Rodgers bashing(and rightly deserved to a large extent), and Gerrard's comments about Rafa in his book etc etc...what's the general consensus of good old Houllier's reign? It gets forgotten about a bit too easily amongst Liverpool fans I feel. Although I suppose the style of football was dull at times to say the least.

But he loved/loves Liverpool Football Club. He left us with some unforgettable memories.

Allez, allez, allez, allez, Gerard Houllier.
 
He did a great job of rebuilding us after roy evans had lost his way (apart from the duel manager period which was embarassing) and the treble season was one of the most enjoyable i can remember as a liverpool fan. Unfortunately after his heart problems he made some strange decisions and bad signings which made his last two years pretty forgettable league wise. We did win the League cup again against United but the brand of football was dire and his post match interviews infuriated most people.
All in all though I look back on his period with a lot of affection. It didn't hurt that he has a great record against Everton and won at Old Trafford 3 times in 4 years.
 
He ran Fowler out of the club so I'll always be meh about him.

We won a bunch of trophies which was great but like the rest he failed in the main area he was brought in for.

We should have won the title in 2002
 
Woland said:
He bored the shit out of me and I couldn't wait for him to get fired
Click to expand...

I get that I really do, and I'm not saying I wanted him to stay any longer than he did.

But think back to those days/nights in Cardiff, and Cardiff again and then Dortmund. Then Cardiff once again a few years later when we beat the Mancs to win the Carling Cup(Worthington Cup or whatever it was back then)

Yes it might pale into insignificance compared to Liverpool winning the big ones in the 70s, and 80s, but he still won plenty of shit. And that's all fans really want/care about isn't it?
 
Dreambeliever said:
No, everyone fan wants the league above everything else at this stage.

I'd trade a treble of cups for the league this season or next.
Click to expand...

Of course want the League above anything else, I'm not suggesting otherwise. But in a generally dismal 20 years or so Houllier was in charge during some great triumphs and for that he deserves some credit.
 
I liked him at first then I didn't. The story of my LFC manager appraisal ad infinitum. Whatevers. I'm cool with my fickle nature.
 
I'd like him to come along a buy us a new back four. He can piss off again after that. Then I'd like Rafa to come in and buy us some central midfielders who know how to control games.

If they both did that then it wouldn't matter who our actual manager was.
 
Gary25 said:
Of course want the League above anything else, I'm not suggesting otherwise. But in a generally dismal 20 years or so Houllier was in charge during some great triumphs and for that he deserves some credit.
Click to expand...

I never said he didn't deserve a lot of credit, he does for sure, I was merely point out that any coach that manages us that doesn't win the league is a failure at the end of the day and the league is what every fan wants.

I also believe with the money in the game now its a lot more challenging to win the league now than when Ged was in charge.
 
We played some awful football under him. But he's a proper gent and I always have had a soft spot for him.

And he brought in Hyypia, Henchoz, Finnan, Hamman and Riise for the same amount we bought Lovren with. (I know, I know, inflation and all that)
 
I think he hung on too long. In retrospect its hard to see his tenure at the club as anything other than a positive and he was genuine in his affection for the club in a way that was never really true of Rafa but it was over long before it actually ended. There were some really poor runs of results towards the end and even when we won the football was unwatchable at times. His reputation was damaged somewhat by the fact Rafa came in and won a CL with the terrible squad Ged had left behind but i still think of him as a success rather than a failure in the grand scheme of things.
 
Houiller had some great cup success with us and I'll always be thankful for that. He did get a little paranoid towards the end with us. I felt a change for both parties was the right thing to do at the time.
 
He did a lot of good for the club and he had a lot of success. He dragged us kicking and screaming into the 21st century.

Unfortunately he oversaw a massive lull in our youth program; inheriting Owen, Gerrard, Carra and Thompson and leaving nothing for the next manager (who was the best youngster he left behind? Mellor, Pongo, Guthrie?). I'm not sure who's at fault but he has to take some of the responsibility given his reputation as youth orientated coach.

He stayed a season too long, and we played some of the worst football in the clubs history during it. If it hadn't been for Gerrard's brilliance then I dread to think where we would have finished.

He made hard decisions. Selling Fowler couldn't have been easy, and whilst I disagreed with the decision (and still do) he could point to Fowler's goalscoring stats after he left and say it was the right decision. He also made a hard decision about Anelka, and again he could point to his goalscoring stats and say it was the right decision (although the decision to buy Diouf instead was not a good decision).

Anyway, some good points, some bad. The good outweighs the bad.
 
Remember the night we played Roma? Houiller was back on the bench and we won 2-0.

#GedMemories

Edit ; Scoreline
 
ILD said:
Remember when Houiller tried to excuse Fowler by telling the reporter that the celebration was an in joke because Rigobert eats the grass at training?

#GedMemories
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It was proper racist. It made me cringe and laugh at the same time.
Where he comes from they eat the grass.....
Dafuq
 
Herr Onceared said:
It was proper racist. It made me cringe and laugh at the same time.
Where he comes from they eat the grass.....
Dafuq
Click to expand...


AS IF anyone was buying that. He should have played dumb and dealt with Fowler privately. I think Houiller cracked up over that celebration again? Didn't he claim someone sold him out or left him down by printing something?
 
I dunno. I know that I love him. By the end (as always) it was time to go, but he was brilliant, won a gang of trophies, best the Mancs twice a year every year, bought some of my favourite ever players, loved the club and I wont say a bad word against him.
 
I remember being dead excited with this transfer window.

The French gems that would take over the world.
Steve 'Best RB In The League' Finnan.
Harry 'The Missing Piece' Kewell.

0006FBF4-6CAA-1F0D-AAC180C328EC0000.jpg


#GedMemories
 
Buying Litmanen and then treating him like some kind of weirdo who needed to be ostracised. That was probably where I started to lose patience with him. And some of those awful games against tactical maestroes such as Howard Wilkinson, well, I almost wept at times. But both he and Rafa started to lose it after their assistants left. A great pity they didn't have someone to calm them down and focus on the job. I think Ged spent at least half of each day studying what pundits were saying about a bad performance, instead of studying the bad performance.
 
RedStar said:
he was genuine in his affection for the club in a way that was never really true of Rafa but it was over long before it actually ended.
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You mean Rafa who stalked us like a lost ex girlfriend for 4 years after he left? No genuine affection? Where were you for 2004-2013!
 
ILD said:
I remember being dead excited with this transfer window.

The French gems that would take over the world.
Steve 'Best RB In The League' Finnan.
Harry 'The Missing Piece' Kewell.

0006FBF4-6CAA-1F0D-AAC180C328EC0000.jpg


#GedMemories
Click to expand...


*BoringObservationAlert*

I always presumed Houiller was a tall man. Kewell is said to be 5'9" as per the internet and Houiller is shorter in the pic. Didn't expect that nor have I noticed it before.
 
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