I've read the threads on the forum and some make very valid points. Some are drivel. Without pointing fingers and naming names, the anti-Houllier brigade are loving this time. There are people who have admitted not wanting us to qualify for the Champions League as it would "paper over the cracks". Then there are the myopic Houllierites, who would back our manager if he got us relegated to the third division. The majority of us fall somewhere between.
In my personal opinion it is worthwhile before making rash judgements, and kneejerk posts, to reflect on Houlliers record, over the last three years at least. Here is my take on the last three seasons at Liverpool.
The season of three cups in 2000/2001. It was undoubtedly a season where a modicum of pride was restored amongst reds. We won things. Granted we didnt get our league title back. We didnt win the Champions League. But we won two domestic cups, and the UEFA cup. We gained Champions League qualification.
Then there was 2001/2002. A season where we reached the quarter finals of the Champions League, going out to eventual finalists Bayer Leverkusen. We finished second in the league, to an awesome Arsenal side, with a points tally that would have won it for us in almost any other season. It was also a season where tragedy struck our club. We almost lost our manager. Without unnecessary sentimental drivel, for Houllier to return showed commitment, courage, loyalty and a genuine love of the club.
Then there is this season. We won the Worthington Cup, and finished 5th in the League. We made the quarter finals of the UEFA Cup. Enough said really.
Was the 2000/01 season the beginning of a new era, an era where we regained our, some may say, rightful place in English football, winning trophies? Or was it a false dawn?
That season was phenomenal, and no one can take that away from us,and no one can take credit away from Houllier, and indeed the sometimes unsung Thompson, who played a massive part in that trophy tally. People that talk about mickey mouse cups would do well to remember that in the ten years prior to that season, we had won only two trophies; both so called lesser cups, the FA Cup in 1992, and the Coca Cola cup in 1995. To go on and win three in a season was a fantastic achievement.
The following season, we (well, Owen) took apart Bayern in the first half of the Super Cup. We weathered the storm in the second half, to win 3-2. We also beat the Mancs in the Charity Shield. I thought that was our season, I really did. And although we had a good season, we only won the Charity Shield. Yes we finished second, and put on a half decent showing in the Champions League. But we expected something more.
Then this season. Not the best season to be a Liverpool fan, and thats putting it mildly. We had our hopes raised then dashed. There have been puzzling decisions, an unbelieveable run of bad form/luck/performances which ruled us out of the title race by January. Two appalling showings against Basle, which put us out of the Champions League. Uninspired performances against the Mancs, Newcastle, Sunderland, and Chelsea yesterday. Poor displays against Celtic and Crystal Palace at home putting us out of the UEFA and FA cups respectively. Dispassionate performances, miserable luck, some shocking refereeing, questionable tactics...... the list is endless, and we've seen and heard it all before.
But is that it? Are we so fickle that we would get rid of Houllier for one bad season, for one season where he hasn't improved?
Comparisons will be drawn with Man Utd fans, who wanted Ferguson out for ages. Some who turned on him when Blackburn pipped them to the title, who said he'd had his time, and it was time to go, those who turned on him last season, when they finished behind us AND Arsenal. Love them or hate them, they'd be worse off had they gotten rid of him, at any of those stages.
There is no doubt that this man divides the fans of our club into two opposing camps. There are those for whom he can do no wrong. He is the messiah who led the sloppy, under-performing team of the mid-nineties back onto the path of greatness. He is the man who has improved our Premiership position every year he has been at the club, bar this season, who has twice won us qualification for the champions league, and who won five trophies in 2001. Then there are those who see a manager who has sold/released flair players, some exceptional ones, and has fashioned a "boring" defensive team. The man who makes baffling decisions, and dubious team selections and substitutions, which all too often backfire.
My stance is that I support Houllier and am willing to give him at least another season. I feel it is the least he deserves. This season hasn't been great by our standards, or by Gerard Houllier's. But the good work he did in the season before this lead me to believe that he can pull us out of this. I don't think he has reached his glass ceiling yet, and I think that the moves he has made for certain players, Duff being a notable example, show he understands what we lack, and wants to fix it. I am happy for him to be given the opportunity to do so.
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