A typical scenario for most over the festive period but then most get some time off to dwell on it, have a few drinks and binge on undercooked turkey. Gerard Houllier joins you in this predicament in 2003, but Gerard Houllier does not have the luxury of a winter break.
Houllier heads into his 16th game of the season three points off of top spot and looking to displace Fulham at the top of the table....The Premiership 2 table that is. Is it good enough? For Mr Moores it is only just good enough; qualification for the the Champions League is at the low end of the scale of success for the Liverpool board and fans alike. The fan who was reprimanded for his Anti-Houllier sign at the Steaua game a fortnight ago called in to a phone-in this week; and spoke of how he feels that it is not Houllier's record of achievement so much that is causing slight unrest, but more his attitude to the criticism he gets when things are not rosy in the Anfield garden. Whether you support the Liverpool Boss or not, no one can deny that Arsene Wenger is more likely to admit to seeing one of his players commit an offence, than Houllier is to admit that the team are underachieving.
Sir Bobby Robson held his hands up to the worst start to a season he has known at Newcastle which could not have been easy; I am sure all the fans appreciated his approach to it; he openly talked of their weaknesses and how he was going to address them. In contrast, Houllier has acted like 4th spot was the target all along and that there is no disapointment in not being in the so-called 'big three' anymore. Now I know, it won't help the team to say we've missed our main objective so soon into the campaign, but in the fans case, honesty from the manager is definately the best policy. The players themselves know it anyway, they don't need to be guarded from the truth that expectation of a fight for the championship is growing year on year. So, are Liverpool fans are within their rights to tell Mr Houllier or Mr Moores what they think? Just as the fan with the banner tried to do....just as Ian St John and a host of other ex-players tried to do last term?
I think the answer is yes. Please don't get me wrong, Gerard Houllier will and should stand up for himself. He apparently banned the ex-players from the executive facilities at Anfield for the comments they made as he saw them as unsupportive; this is a little more than standing up for yourself.
Houllier would have you believe that he keeps this air of confidence and rejects any naysayers to protect his team and his players, very noble. Unfortunately, I don't believe this is the case. I believe that as more years pass, he is more aware of the outside factors of running a Premiership team and how those factors can affect your job. This is no surprise after his heroic fight back from illness; but you cannot close the world out completely, you cannot believe the good stories and rebuke the unfavourble ones as without some balance in opinion, especially from your fans, there would be no barometer to test your success against...and before you know it, everyone has a banner calling for your head and you didn't see it coming. It's about communication. It does no good to label fans who call phone-in's disloyal and not true fans; these are the people who go through the turnstiles and these are the people you have to listen to. To quote Houllier from today's press:
'We are in a decent league position going into the turn of the year'
'Decent' is not a place Liverpool like to spend much time and certainly not while the manager is smiling like we've just won the Champions League. So remember, when your Boss gives you a ticking off next time...at least you aren't in the Liverpool managers chair....which is growing hotter than a Turkey with all the trimmings.