Gerard Houllier

midget lord

You can seldom spend long in Houllier's company without the subject of Liverpool arising. There is a saying that the only sure way of leaving a football club is to become its manager, but Houllier's leaving of Liverpool was purely physical; he did say at that extraordinary press conference that he would remain an ardent fan, and he has been as good as his word. Although a few eyebrows were raised by the disclosure that he had celebrated with Rafa Benitez and the team in the Istanbul dressing-room after their Champions League triumph over Milan, his own account of the incident is disarming: ''It was one of the best moments of my life when I saw the reaction of the players. I'd been outside with my brother Serge, who is also well known to the lads, but I was feeling a bit apprehensive because, after all, it was they and Rafael Benitez who had won the trophy - the only thing I had contributed was the fourth-place finish the previous season that got them into the competition. But, when Benitez saw me though the open door, he was really good. He called me in and it was great that the players wanted to share the moment with me - there were quite a few hugs - because you cannot live with people for four, five or six years without becoming attached to them and I was so proud of their performance that night. There were no mixed feelings at all - I'd always known that at some stage I'd have to leave the club. But I never fell out of love with Liverpool for a moment, never bore a grudge. I'm a fan for life.''

From here.

No matter what people on here say about ged, IMO he is an absolute gentleman, and one that i am proud to have to connected to the club i love. He brought us domestic and european success, maybe not the domestic success we wanted and so craved but success nonetheless. He finished with the highest points total for a runner up.

YNWA GH.

Big Nelly

Another random Liverpool thread!!!!

Gas the way Liverpool supporters now say GH is a gentleman when not so long ago they where booing him and making every move/suggestion to try and get him sacked!! short term memory is a great thing!!!

Dont really rate him personally as a manager and we will see wat he does in France this season!

StickyMcGinty

he is the "nicest" manager ever to grace the premiership, but unfortunately that was also his downfall, was never ruthless when needs be.

had the pleasure of meeting him once, after the UEFA cup semi final v Barca, perfect gent!

ianomccabe

Big Nelly wrote:

Another random Liverpool thread!!!!

Gas the way Liverpool supporters now say GH is a gentleman when not so long ago they where booing him and making every move/suggestion to try and get him sacked!! short term memory is a great thing!!!

Dont really rate him personally as a manager and we will see wat he does in France this season!

I don't ever remember Ged being booed at anfield........

Board@Work

It was time for him to move on but that doesn't negate the fact that he obviously loved the club and couldn't be a nicer guy

Keyzer

I'm sure he is a wonderful man but in all honesty he is not a great manager.
Yes, the season when they won everything bar the league and champs league was a good one, but things went downhill from there.
In terms of mangerial successes, Rafa managed that team with 1 or 2 signings and brought the European Cup back to Liverpool.

In my opinion, Rafa is sorting out the mess that Souness created and Houllier made even messier...

midget lord

Keyzer wrote:

I'm sure he is a wonderful man but in all honesty he is not a great manager.
Yes, the season when they won everything bar the league and champs league was a good one, but things went downhill from there.
In terms of mangerial successes, Rafa managed that team with 1 or 2 signings and brought the European Cup back to Liverpool.

In my opinion, Rafa is sorting out the mess that Souness created and Houllier made even messier...

He finished second in the league in 01/02 with the highest points total of any runner up?

~Rebel~

Lets face it, after his 2nd place finish, he went downhill very quickly, made some absolutely horrifically bad decisions with the vast quantities of money given to him and generally failed to keep the team motivated in the later years. Still a lovely chap, im just delighted he's no longer the manager. Would have been quite happy for him to have moved upstairs or something.

Houllier provided the false dawn, Rafa is here to lead us into a new day.


poetic or what!

ianomccabe

He is still held in a very high regard at the club too by both management players and boardroom staff.

After the final in Turkey he was in the changing room for a good hour talking to players and management following the win.

mr_angry

I wouldn't say Houllier was a bad managed for Liverpool. He took them out of the doldrums when Souness and Evans had dismantled any hint of success in the team. However by 2004, he had taken them as far as he could, and it was simply time for some fresh ideas. No shame in that tbh.

Davei141

That story should be appreciated from any football fan, great man.

Keyzer

He bought a whole team of crap players as well.
Wasting such an amount of money on jokers cant be done in this day and age unless your budget is limitless.
TBH, I do feel he did more damage than good at Liverpool, even though they came second in 01/02. Coming 2nd means nothing apart from automatic entry to CL and a nice sum of money, as we all know there is no silverware for 2nd place.
I'd still say he is a lovely guy though.

lili

well, now he is the manager of my favourite team : lyon.
i don't want make a judgment on him by the half of the season.
as for the guy himself, sure thing he is a gentleman.

Bateman

He first fell in love with the club while studying in Liverpool I believe. So he was a fan well before he was ever manager, if that's true.

lili

he was an english teacher in france. how is his accent?

Keyzer

Liverpool's league performance under Houllier -

03/04 season
4th place - Liverpool - 60pts - 30pts behind winners Arsenal

02/03 Season
5th place - Liverpool - 64pts - 19pts behind winners Manu

01/02 Season
2nd place - Liverpool - 80pts - 7pts behind winners Arsenal

00/01 Season
3rd place - Liverpool - 69pts - 11pts behind winners ManU

99/00 Season
4th place - Liverpool - 67pts - 24pts behind winners ManU

98/99 Season
4th place - Liverpool - 54pts - 25pts behind winners ManU

Peaking with 01/02 season and on the decline from there on out.
Largest margin between their nearest rivals was 4 points.

lili

what is interesting to know it's what was the ranking of liverpool before houllier?

Keyzer

lili wrote:

what is interesting to know it's what was the ranking of liverpool before houllier?

FA CARLING PREMIERSHIP 1997/98

Pos Club P W D L GF GA GD Pts
1 Arsenal 38 23 9 6 68 33 35 78 <ECL
2 Manchester United 38 23 8 7 73 26 47 77 <ECL

---

3 Liverpool 38 18 11 9 68 42 26 65 <Uefa

midget lord

*sigh*


that 02/03 season, i really thought we were going to do it that season.

lili

do you think that liverpool can challenge chelsea? they prove they were able to beat strong teams in CL and they have a fighting spirit. but in a whole season, are they strong enough?

mike65

Fair play, Ged always was a decent chap its just a pity he fell short where it matters in football (but not life).

Mike.

Keyzer

Anyway, under Rafa Liverpool are going to do much better.

Necronomicon

Hopefully he'll do well at Lyon. He always seemed dignified in interviews etc, especially with constant speculation about his future. And from what everyone is saying he sounds like a nice guy.

Davei141

keyzer wrote:

TBH, I do feel he did more damage than good at Liverpool

What did we win in the 90s before he came? He gave me the best season in my lifetime.

HashSlinging

Davei141 wrote:

That story should be appreciated from any football fan, great man.

^^^ what he said!

jesus_thats_gre

Big Nelly wrote:

Another random Liverpool thread!!!!

Gas the way Liverpool supporters now say GH is a gentleman when not so long ago they where booing him and making every move/suggestion to try and get him sacked!! short term memory is a great thing!!!

Dont really rate him personally as a manager and we will see wat he does in France this season!

Many United supporters think Alex Ferguson should have been sacked a year ago but still think he is the best manager in their history and would still think extremely highly of him no matter what...

DapperGent

VinnyL wrote:

he is the "nicest" manager ever to grace the premiership, but unfortunately that was also his downfall, was never ruthless when needs be.

That was Roy Evans. The poor sap.

He could have been the nice guard in Porridge.