The replacement for MON...?

[Toronto Villa]

My first thought on Houiller (if is is going to be him) i'm not sure about it to be honest. The Statement mentioned that the club wanted someone who knows the Premiership. Houiller does, well he did, he's not managed in it for a long time. His signing's at Liverpool were not great. Yes he won trophies, but it was 9 years ago.

Personally i think we can do better.

If people are only going to base their opinion on what they "recall" of Houllier's time in England then that opinion is going to be skewed. How many people truly know what he is like now? What did his time at Liverpool teach him? How did he implement that during his time with Lyon? Did what he learn at Liverpool help him see things differently in hindsight? he's already gone on record as saying he made errors, especially during his illness. How has his time as the technical Director of French FA helped him better understand the game. Nobody on here really knows the answer to any of those questions. For all we know he may have changed his entire philosophy on football, yet people are going to dig up what he did 6 or 7 years ago as if that is his entire body of work. It isn't.

[KevinGage]

But seeing as the Prem experience factor is a huge pull for the board his stint at Liverpool is key.

For someone who came to Liverpool to be their very own Wenger, someone who knew the French academy inside out, he spent huge money on some horrible, horrible players.

Key question you have to ask: did he underperform there?

For the level of backing and time he had in the role, you'd have to say yes.

[Clampy]

For someone who came to Liverpool to be their very own Wenger, someone who knew the French academy inside out, he spent huge money on some horrible, horrible players.

El Hadj Diouf for £10m being one of them.

[pmk1981]

all these names been banderd about,  moyes, sven, hitzfield, koeman and we are looking like ending up with FUCKING GERALD HAS BEEN HOULIER !!!!

[TheSandman]

At least he's not Curbishley. Or Phil Brown. Or Sven.

[Toronto Villa]

But seeing as the Prem experience factor is a huge pull for the board his stint at Liverpool is key.

For someone who came to Liverpool to be their very own Wenger, someone who knew the French academy inside out, he spent huge money on some horrible, horrible players.

Key question you have to ask: did he underperform there?

For the level of backing and time he had in the role, you'd have to say yes.

Yes, off course his time at Liverpool is relevant. But I think it is one of many criteria that is important in this appointment. I assume, what is appealing about Houllier is everything else he now brings to the table. He, like Benitez spent a lot of money and you could argue both underperformed given the backing. But I bet he'd do certain things differently now given time to reflect.

As an aside I think Wenger is out on his own in terms on ROI, but given that he's not won anything for a good while, I bet there are a lot more doubters amongst Arsenal fans than there was 5 years ago.

[john e]

it cant be Houllier he's not on our voting poll list

[KevinGage]

For someone who came to Liverpool to be their very own Wenger, someone who knew the French academy inside out, he spent huge money on some horrible, horrible players.

El Hadj Diouf for £10m being one of them.

Someone printed a list and it would make you wince.

I picked Hyypia and Dudek out as definite successes.
After that, it was a rollcall from hell.

[Clampy]

I think Houiller's time has come and gone. The fact that he's taken a back seat during the last 3 years suggests he might be winding down his career. I can't get excited about it to be honest.

[Toronto Villa]

For someone who came to Liverpool to be their very own Wenger, someone who knew the French academy inside out, he spent huge money on some horrible, horrible players.

El Hadj Diouf for £10m being one of them.

Diouf was a very popular and exciting signing when he made it. Just because he turned out not to be as advertised only makes him a bad signing in hindsight.

[paul_e]

As said, I'd hope that his time at liverpool would have no bearing on his time here, mainly because at the time the liverpool fans still thought they were the best side in the league and the problem was that evans had messed up, that meant every signing he made had to achieve big things as soon as they arrived and if they didn't were labelled a failure immediately.  I'd hope the fans here would be a little more circumspect and give things a little more time to see if Delph, Fonz, Albrighton, etc can be the players we want and let houllier add to them, rather than replace them, which he was pretty much forced to do at liverpool (one of the players who he had to ignore for this very reason being our own Left Back)

[wif]

But seeing as the Prem experience factor is a huge pull for the board his stint at Liverpool is key.

For someone who came to Liverpool to be their very own Wenger, someone who knew the French academy inside out, he spent huge money on some horrible, horrible players.

Key question you have to ask: did he underperform there?

For the level of backing and time he had in the role, you'd have to say yes.

Four trophies in five seasons.  Sign me up for that kind of underperformance.

[pmk1981]

but looking at it from another angle

randy is the best,  he has turned us from a falling club under ellis and o'dreary to a fighting for champions league 3 years on the trot.  he has backed the manager,  built a superb training ground and brought stability to us.   granted we have a few "odd" names been bandered about for manager but its only paper talk.  it has taken a long time because randy has put thought and spent money on getting advisers in to make sure he makes the best decision.  i would of rather he takes his time than rush into something.  YES i am worried that we might be getting houllier but he must show something to randy and his advisors and if he can recreate what he did for liverpool we are laughing. 

i say give him the benefit of the doubt and we MAY be in for a nice surprise.  REMEMBER ALL THIS CURBISHLY BOLLOX IS PAPER TALK !!

i dont think randy is that stupid to give curbishly the job.  he needs to go one better than oniell

[Clampy]

My first choice was Martin Jol. I wonder how hard the club have tried to get him away from Ajax. He was happy to leave to go to Fulham until his board stopped him. I wonder if they tested their resolve a second time round?

[timeoutbigbar]

My brother was very happy with the idea of having Houllier in charge, until the ensuing discussion lead to his realisation that Houllier wasn't Benitez.  Funny how his reaction changed after that.