Houllier: Bonaparte or Clouseau?

[Ivo Stas]

What is everyone’s general opinion of Houllier?

Is he a tactical Napoleon Bonaparte who:

 - won the league at at PSG,
 - won the League, FA and UEFA Cups at Liverpool
 - won two league titles at Lyon
 - the foundations, as technical director, of the great 1998 and 2000 French team?

Or is he a bumbling Inspector Clouseau who:

 - failed to qualify France for the 1994 World Cup when they only needed one point from two home games against Israel and Bulgaria
 - ultimately failed at Liverpool after wasting £20 million in one summer at Liverpool on Diouf, Diao and Cheyrou (whilst letting Anelka’s loan expire)
 - failed to take Lyon onto the next level in the Champions League (they had already won four titles before he arrived)
 - was responsible, as technical director (and supporter of Domench), for the great French farce last summer

(Note: when at Lyon Houllier swapped John Carew for Milan Baros with Martin O’Neill at Villa. I think that player swap says everything about both managers approach to the game.)

[Lambert and Payne]

Diddnt he get a fair few goals out of baros at lyon though? Still a bit hit and miss though, an enigma, lets hope he keeps healthy and gets us back to where we belong

[Dave Cooper please]

Where's the Vanessa Paradis option?

[curiousorange]

I think damning him for supporting Domenech is a bit unfair - after all, he's hardly going to slag the bloke off around World Cup time even if he thought he was a Looney Tune. And banging on about wasting money on Diouf et al is unfair considering Diouf in particular was highly rated after World Cup '02 and was wanted by just about every club in Europe.

[Smoke]

Diddnt he get a fair few goals out of baros at lyon though? Still a bit hit and miss though, an enigma, lets hope he keeps healthy and gets us back to where we belong

According to wiki he got 7 goals in 24 games for lyon where he managed 9 in 42 games for villa


Interestingly he's scored 48 goals in 63 games for galatasaray!

[not3bad]

Where's the Vanessa Paradis option?

Joe le Taxi for Dave Cooper.