The replacement for MON...?

[eastie]

Surely if it was houllier or kmac an announcement would have been made by now- maybe randy will pull a rabbit out the hat and shock us all with a top name manager that nobody thought we could get?

[eamonn]

Can Monty or someone knowledgeable on French football give a critical précis of his 3 years managing Lyon? Apols if I've missed it.

[Whiney MacWhineface]

Can Monty or someone knowledgeable on French football give a critical précis of his 3 years managing Lyon? Apols if I've missed it.

Two years, two titles, (making it 6 in a row after Le Guen) then dumped for not getting far enough in the Chumps League.

[TheSandman]

I still remember the quote from some guy 'A donkey could lead Lyon to a title'. That said the last couple of managers must be worse than donkeys.

Also as borne out by his career post Lyon Le Guen is an utterly appalling manager and even he managed to win consecutive titles. Mind I'm still saying this as someone who thinks he's the right man.

[Arsey]

if we can not get who we really want at this point in the season then appointing Houllier on a 1-2 year contract isn't a terrible idea.  Hopefully, he would be able to help bringing some of the kids through.

[mr woo]

Been having a quick browse on the net and found this, an article written in the Guardian in 2006, a year or so after Houllier had taken over at Lyon.

http://tinyurl.com/3azmty3

I think the relevant parts I found of interest are:

"Anyway ... Lyon. They may not be as swashbuckling as they were under Le Guen but they're definitely tighter. While Houllier has nominally retained Le Guen's adventurous 4-3-3 formation, the increased work ethic he has instilled means it turns into a 4-5-1 faster than it ever did under Le Guen. It is to Houllier's credit that despite losing Michael Essien and Mahamadou Diarra in successive summers, he has managed to produce a phenomenally hard-working team packed with pace and power"


and

"The third obstacle, then, could be the trickiest: Houllier himself. You might think Lyon have immense self-belief, borne of overwhelming domestic domination. And the fact that on three separate occasions this season they've come from 1-0 down with six minutes to go to win 2-1 suggest you'd be right. But niggling doubts remain. They are very aware, for instance, that despite their overwhelming supremacy in France over the last five years, they have failed to clinch a domestic double, consistently slipping up in knockout tournaments. And, of course, they know that in 2005 and 2006 they botched a Champions League quarter-final when they had victory in their grasp.

Houllier was brought in in 2005 specifically to address these doubts. He was charged with hauling the club from the ranks of the very good into the pantheon of the European greats. This, of course, is exactly what he failed to do at Liverpool, where he succeeded in getting the club back on the straight and narrow but couldn't lift it to higher ground. Why? Because to complement his school teacher's discipline and method, he suffers from a school teacher's lack of boldness.

This was alarmingly clear in last season's quarter-final failure. After being lucky to escape with a 0-0 draw in the first leg (which Juninho missed through suspension), the Lyonnais were superb against Milan in the San Siro and, with the score at 1-1, seemed set to progress on away goals. With 15 minutes to go, Houllier was consumed by conservatism and hauled off Sidney Govou to replace him with Réveillère, surrendering the initiative to Milan who duly snatched two late goals. This was exactly the sort of caving-in that Houllier had presided over in 1994, when his France side quite spectacularly bottled their attempt to qualify for the World Cup: needing just one point from their final two games, Houllier's side, paralysed by fear, lost at home to Bulgaria and Israel. Houllier now says he has learned from these gutless blunders. We will see."



I guess the suggestion is, he has his plus and minus points.

Having said that, the majority of articles (I've read so far) that were written around the time of his resignation suggest most people were glad to see the back of him.

[SoccerHQ]

I would pull out all the stops to get Jol, two top five finishes with Spurs and they werent pulling up any trees before he took over. Rijkaard did well with Holland and Barcelona. Anyone wondering about the fact Alex Mcleish hasnt signed his contract yet? I think with his track record if he had finished in the top ten with any other promoted team last season we would be mentioning him more.

Problem is Ajax qualifying for champions league, can you see him walking away from a group with AC Miland and Real Madrid in it? I think either him or Moyes will be available next summer so I'm o.k with a short term appointment.

[john e]

I would pull out all the stops to get Jol, two top five finishes with Spurs and they werent pulling up any trees before he took over. Rijkaard did well with Holland and Barcelona. Anyone wondering about the fact Alex Mcleish hasnt signed his contract yet? I think with his track record if he had finished in the top ten with any other promoted team last season we would be mentioning him more.

Problem is Ajax qualifying for champions league, can you see him walking away from a group with AC Miland and Real Madrid in it? I think either him or Moyes will be available next summer so I'm o.k with a short term appointment.

i dont know. Stoke away next match could have been a deal clincher

[SoccerHQ]

The main worry from his time at Lyon is he saw fit to swop Carew for Baros.

[Steve67]

The dynasty that is, er, 63 year old Gerard Houllier?  If they want to appoint him as a DOF with Kevin MacDonald as the day to day Manager, then why not appoint Kevin BEFORE the transfer window slammed shut, informing him that they want to bring in a senior Manager to teach him?  Makes no sense to me at all.  I hope that this does not happen. He's been out of day to day management for years and we might be asking him to come and manage a top six premier league club? Doesn't makie sense to me at all.

[villa `cross the mersey]

Why the delay in announcing if the decision has been made?

Perhaps they are still undecided.

If KMac ends up being the appointment I feel this and other sites will go into meltdown and I suggest that the General stays off line,  at least until Christmas.

[Toronto Villa]

well he's in the country at Jamie Carragher's testimonial. So maybe it all gets finalized this weekend.

[Shrek]

Or maybe Houllier hasn't decided he wants to accept yet, meaning we can't announce anything.

[john e]

Or maybe Houllier hasn't decided he wants to accept yet, meaning we can't announce anything.

good shout there gibbo, the general did say something about any future manager would want to due diligence before moving to a new club

[Rudy Can't Fail]

Our last manager was hailed by many as the Messiah, spent shed loads and lost two of our best players and gave away several future Internationals, leaving too many expensive dead woods in their place. He achieved several 6th places and a few Wembley defeats.
Whoever gets the job doesn't have overly much to live up to,so even if spending is limited he won't have to set his sights too high, maybe 6th or higher, a good cup run, setting up a decent scouting network, unloading a few overpaid players and coherent post match comments. I doubt,KM, excepted that such is beyond many on the list so why be so concerned.

Despite leaving at an awkward time, MON did a bloody good job for us. Yes he had his faults, but i think a couple of years down the line, we'll look back and appreciate what he did. I already do.

I don't. I'm left with a feeling of complete frustration of what could have been if Martin had not been so bloody loyal to Robertson and Walford. They really were the millstone around his neck. He spoke several times about trying to improve the way we play but there was very little evidence apart from the end of hoofing last season. Even possibly more frustrating was he'd called Kevin MacDonald up this summer to help out with the first squad. Maybe he was finally beginning to realise we needed help with the coaching or maybe he was getting ready to pass over the reins. We'll never know.

Given the amount of money he was given to spend, sixth place was the minimum we should have expected. What is disappointing is that in four years in charge, we rarely ever looked like a decent top 6 side. It was all about week in, week out, digging out the results instead of improving the team whereby we could step it up a gear if and when needed. Hopefully the new manager, whoever he may be, will get us playing to our potential and get the points on the board. As I said many times last season, we're not half as bad as we pretend to be.