I love Ged me

[Spike]

on the BBC asked about the best players in the WC.

 

He said that the best so far had been in midfield and despite a muted competition, in comparison to what we know he can do, Ged mentioned Stevie with a twinkle in his eye and then Ballack.

 

Allez Allez, and it's good to see him looking so well.

 

He may have left under a cloud but he gave us all a belief and a silver lining once more.

 

Please don't turn this into a Ged bash thread, just thought I'd post.

 

He may not have made our dreams come true but he made us dream.

[Paisley]

Yep me too - he gave the job his all, loved the club and still does, and for me things started to get better again for us during his reign. I remember watching the Olympiakos game and thinking 'my God we look like a team again' rather than just the spice boys and a team with fading stars.

 

Glad he's looking healthy too.

[alias75]

Geds a great man your right he got us back to winning ways and while he made mistakes (some we're still trying to repair) his commitment to the club couldnt be beat.

[Ostrich Man]

c***

 

 

[fyds]

He was instrumental in making us winners again and on setting us back on the right road as well as turning us into a 21st Century club.

 

So a few transfer deals didn't work - par for the course for any manager, successful or otherwise - and what about those that did?

 

He'll always be a top man for me.

[oojason]

Looks happy and well - good to see.

 

Will never forget any of the 6 trophies we won under him, and for turning into a decent competitive outfit again. Another important part on our journey to becoming a better team and club.

[Guest FrankH]

He was instrumental in making us winners again and on setting us back on the right road as well as turning us into a 21st Century club.

 

So a few transfer deals didn't work - par for the course for any manager, successful or otherwise - and what about those that did?

 

He'll always be a top man for me.

 

 

A few??!

[smithdown]

the bit of success in 2001

 

 

 

 

Yeah, Cup trebles are ten-a-penny

[Molby]

the decision to move him on was the right one. After the team had began to fall backwards on what he had built previously. However i was deeply disapointed that the job was only three quaters done. I really did love him.

yeah? well I reckon I loved him more

[Tones]

We improved greatly under GH. He loved the club and still does and deserves respect for that.

[Guest Paddy]

 

Yeah, Cup trebles are ten-a-penny

 

One good season out of seven, hence the "bit" of success.

 

His record in the league was poor for the time in the job and money spent. In fact it wasn't much better than Roy Evans, who didn't have the luxury of fourth place for the champions league.

[Guest Sabre]

One good season out of seven, hence the "bit" of success.

 

His record in the league was poor for the time in the job and money spent. In fact it wasn't much better than Roy Evans, who didn't have the luxury of fourth place for the champions league.

 

How very strange. You remember us finishing in a very competent 2nd place? You remember the talk of how we seemed to be on the right track to really challenge? We won cup after cup after cup after Ged. He made the Liverpool fans believe again and to liken him to Roy is frankly mental. He revolutionised our club and set in motion what we now have under Rafa. It was the right time for him to go but I miss him for his intelligence and love of our club, as well as having amazing memories of the trophies we won.

[David Hodgson]

One good season out of seven, hence the "bit" of success.

 

His record in the league was poor for the time in the job and money spent. In fact it wasn't much better than Roy Evans, who didn't have the luxury of fourth place for the champions league.

 

His league record was excellent, relatively, apart from his last 2 seasons. When he took over from Evans we were in the bottom half of the table. We finished 6/7th that year, 4th in 2000, 3rd in 2001, and 2nd, with 80 points, in 2002. In that season we were also 3 minutes away from a Champions league semi-final.

 

Houllier's team of 2002 was the best Liverpool side since 1990, and now only just being bettered by Rafa's 2006 model. We won trophies with GH and re-gained respect in Europe. Believe me Rafa would have had twice the job on his hands if he'd inherited the Evans set-up.

[anny road]

One good season out of seven, hence the "bit" of success.

 

His record in the league was poor for the time in the job and money spent. In fact it wasn't much better than Roy Evans, who didn't have the luxury of fourth place for the champions league.

 

 

the knowledge of some of our fans never fails to amaze me

[Guest Cacodemon]

This is just my opinion amd its not bashing him really cos he's a decent fella it seems but.....

 

so you should be able to name more that worked than didnt. He shouldnt get some kind of special praise for that. Sure some transfers dont work, but some of the transfer dealings were scandalous.

Song 3 million, Diomede 3 million, Biscan 6 million, Barmby 6 million, Ziege 5 milion, Kirkland 6 million, Diouf 11 million, Diao 5.5 million, Cisse 14 million ....edit forgot about Cheyrou 3.7 and Heskey 11 million

 

Those are the main big signing flops, nevermind Kippe, Ferri, Meijer, Vignal, Litmanen, Xavier, Luzi, the "Gems"

 

Questions over 40% of his signings IMO.

 

Thats history though, but I just dont think the man should be given blind praise. He did a lot of good work early on but almost equally there was a lot of harm done and the big question is was the TEAM on the pitch in better condition after Houllier left?

 

Rigobert Song - £2.5m, decent bit of business, steadied the defence during the season when we were leaking goals, and we sold him for almost the same fee. Not a failure to me.

 

Diomede - £3m, turned out to be a poor signing, however the guy was a world cup winner and could of made it.

 

Biscan - £5.5m, I think Biscan performances for Rafa have shown that Biscan was indeed an excellent Central Midfielder - but a terrible CB. Ged fault for not playing him in his best position. I wont look at Biscan as a failure.

 

Barmby - £6m, had a great first season before injury took its toll. Was a regular england international that season and played some great games for us.

 

Ziege - £5.5m, great player, but he was rarely played in his best position, the guy wasnt a LB, not good enough in defence. However look back at the Treble season DVD and just watch how many goals are set up by Ziege, I think you'll be surprised!! Plus we got £4m for him.

 

Kirkland - £6m, was meant to be THE next english goalkeeper, and was thought of as a better keeper than Robinson. However, maybe Ged should of checked the medical report when iit came back he was made of glass....

 

Diouf - £10.5m, I'll give you that one. Terrible attitude and a complete lack of pace, meant that his football ability wasn't enough. Ged's biggest stinker.

 

Diao - £5.5m, Had a decent world cup, and with Gerrard sustaining a bad injury at the time was brought in. A severe lack of ccomposure on the ball and the fact he couldn't pass without hammmering the ball at a team mate means he's another Turkey.

 

Cisse - £14m, the guy is a class finisher in the right set up. 19 goals playing out of position and infrequently shows he knows exactly where the goal is. Yes he doesnt fit Rafa's model of a Centre forward, but he'll be banging the goals in left, right and centre for years to come (just not at LFC)

 

Cheyrou - £3.7m, another flop. Not suited to the English league or any other league for that matter - a one season wonder in the French league. Glad he's finally gone.

 

Heskey - £11m, great first season, decent second season. Suffered from a lack of confidence and injuries, I don't see him as a failure as he really performed on many occasions, and we got a decent fee for him.

 

I don't think Gedd had that many stinkers - in was that fabled summer of '02 that did it for him - and an unfounded confidence in some players that didn't perform. Am glad Ged came, and I'm glad he left.

[smithdown]

Believe me Rafa would have had twice the job on his hands if he'd inherited the Evans set-up.

 

 

Would Rafa even have taken the job on in the first place if we weren't able to point towards the 'little bit of success' of 2001 and our improved European standing since then?

[David Hodgson]

Rigobert Song - £2.5m, decent bit of business, steadied the defence during the season when we were leaking goals, and we sold him for almost the same fee. Not a failure to me.

 

Diomede - £3m, turned out to be a poor signing, however the guy was a world cup winner and could of made it.

 

Biscan - £5.5m, I think Biscan performances for Rafa have shown that Biscan was indeed an excellent Central Midfielder - but a terrible CB. Ged fault for not playing him in his best position. I wont look at Biscan as a failure.

 

Barmby - £6m, had a great first season before injury took its toll. Was a regular england international that season and played some great games for us.

 

Ziege - £5.5m, great player, but he was rarely played in his best position, the guy wasnt a LB, not good enough in defence. However look back at the Treble season DVD and just watch how many goals are set up by Ziege, I think you'll be surprised!! Plus we got £4m for him.

 

Kirkland - £6m, was meant to be THE next english goalkeeper, and was thought of as a better keeper than Robinson. However, maybe Ged should of checked the medical report when iit came back he was made of glass....

 

Diouf - £10.5m, I'll give you that one. Terrible attitude and a complete lack of pace, meant that his football ability wasn't enough. Ged's biggest stinker.

 

Diao - £5.5m, Had a decent world cup, and with Gerrard sustaining a bad injury at the time was brought in. A severe lack of ccomposure on the ball and the fact he couldn't pass without hammmering the ball at a team mate means he's another Turkey.

 

Cisse - £14m, the guy is a class finisher in the right set up. 19 goals playing out of position and infrequently shows he knows exactly where the goal is. Yes he doesnt fit Rafa's model of a Centre forward, but he'll be banging the goals in left, right and centre for years to come (just not at LFC)

 

Cheyrou - £3.7m, another flop. Not suited to the English league or any other league for that matter - a one season wonder in the French league. Glad he's finally gone.

 

Heskey - £11m, great first season, decent second season. Suffered from a lack of confidence and injuries, I don't see him as a failure as he really performed on many occasions, and we got a decent fee for him.

 

I don't think Gedd had that many stinkers - in was that fabled summer of '02 that did it for him - and an unfounded confidence in some players that didn't perform. Am glad Ged came, and I'm glad he left.

 

 

People just love listing his 'flops'. Very rarely does anyone take time out to list his good buys, so I will, and ther eare plenty of 'em :

 

Hyypia, Finnan, Riise, Hamann, Babbel, McAllister, Henchoz, Dudek, Pongolle.

 

The following were also good value for the money we paid, and then sold them for : Smicer, Kewell, Camara, Anelka, Heskey.

[Guest Paddy]

Going by that logic we wouldn't have got Houllier to manage us after Evans.

 

I know a lot of fans see us as a small amateurish club, but it's taking it a bit far when some think the only reason we can attract good managers is because of the Frenchman and a few lucky cup wins.

 

The benchmark at Liverpool is the title, you only had to look at the bile aimed at Benitez finishing fifth in his first season to know that. Houllier's league record is 7th, 4th, 3rd, 2nd, 5th, 4th, and that's not good enough for the time in the job and money he was given to spend.

 

He also left us skint.

Edited July 1, 2006 by Paddy

[smithdown]

Going by that logic we wouldn't have got Houllier to manage us after Evans.

 

I know a lot of fans see us as a small amateurish club, but it's taking it a bit far when some think the only reason we can attract good managers is because of the Frenchman and a few lucky cup wins.

 

The benchmark at Liverpool is the title, you only had to look at the bile aimed at Benitez finishing fifth in his first season to know that. Houllier's league record is 7th, 4th, 3rd, 2nd, 5th, 4th, and that's not good enough for the time in the job and money he was given to spend.

 

He also left us skint.

 

 

I know yeah, we were full of bile in Istanbul after that particular lucky Cup win weren't we? Oh no that was mancs and bluenoses who were full of anger and bitterness (and still are by the look of it).

 

Houllier knew the city and the club. Totally different scenario.

[oojason]

Paddy - best sack Rafa too then, eh?

 

A few lucky cup wins, he hasn't won us the league and we are 'skint'.

 

 

 

Looking back on GH's time overall he gave us 6 trophies - I was cheering and enjoyed winning all of them - a shame others seemingly didn't and just saw them as 'lucky'.

 

The club progressed - it was a in a lot better state when GH left than it was before he came.

 

People can list the failures of any manager - cos every manager has had them, yet the same people don't seem to list the successes...

 

GH spent around £12million net each season - not too bad considering we found it hard to attract the really top players as we weren't playing CL footy or really challenging at the start.

Edited July 1, 2006 by oojason

[Guest Paddy]

Paddy - best sack Rafa too then, eh?

 

 

Give it time. A few more seasons, no title, rubbish defensive football, a shedload of dross left on the books, a huge contract pay off, and the club almost left in financial ruin should do the trick.

Edited July 1, 2006 by Paddy

[smithdown]

Give it time. A few more seasons, no title, a shedload of dross left on the books, a huge contract pay off, and the club almost left in financial ruin should do the trick.

 

 

No Cups?

 

Sack him now if there are no Cup Finals for the lads to go to.

[magneto]

Edited July 1, 2006 by magneto

[Clay Davis]

How very strange. You remember us finishing in a very competent 2nd place? You remember the talk of how we seemed to be on the right track to really challenge? We won cup after cup after cup after Ged. He made the Liverpool fans believe again and to liken him to Roy is frankly mental. He revolutionised our club and set in motion what we now have under Rafa. It was the right time for him to go but I miss him for his intelligence and love of our club, as well as having amazing memories of the trophies we won.

is right.

 

sums Ged up for me.

[David Hodgson]

Give it time. A few more seasons, no title, rubbish defensive football, a shedload of dross left on the books, a huge contract pay off, and the club almost left in financial ruin should do the trick.

 

 

Behave yourself Paddy. Utter cr*p.

 

GH didn't financially ruin the club. His spending record shows that he spent net about £60-70m in 6 years. That simply isn't a fortune, and bears comparison with the spending of Leeds, Newcastle, Tottenham and Middlesbrough, in that period. None of whom came close to the success we had under Houllier.

 

We may want the title, but we have no right to it, and although GH was soundly backed by the board in the transfer market he was hardly given a war chest with which a championship win would be all but guaranteed.