On a more serious note, we talk about O'Neill being the watershed but it's been hinted that something happened regarding Houlier that really got to him and marked the beginning of his withdrawal. What it was, I've no idea but I think that the whole Lerner era was based around him buying something to enjoy and when he stopped enjoying it he lost interest. Would that I could drop a couple of hundred million because I didn't want to play any more.
I think it was probably a combination of factors. Lerner was obviously massively upset by O'Neill's actions, but then appointed a manager who never really seemed to buy into the club or its history. Lerner was a "heart on his sleeve" kind of bloke, so I don't think it's hard to imagine that he was as unimpressed as most fans were with the actions like touching the Anfield sign etc.
