Liverpool FC Forum

[jonnymac1979]

that it's obvious he had to be on the take. 

Sorry, I just want to explain this last post of mine, particularly this line above.

I'm not saying he was on the take, I'm saying that when this story broke, people immediately looked at his transfer record and said "Ahhh, that explains it then." automatically saying "Well, Houllier's definitely got to be involved hasn't he?  All that money for those four horseshit players?  Got to be on the take if you ask me."

People may use bungs as an excuse for signing the French based players, when in fact as I've already stated above, I haven't actually yet seen Houllier's name mentioned in any story.  I do know of people who are suspicious of him though, some people are just cynical, I suppose.

He did have one nightmare summer in 2002 signing purely French based players.  He's admitted since he made a mistake with Diouf.  Who was to know at the time though?

The summer afterwards, he signed the right back selected in the Premier League Team of the Year by his peers, Steve Finnan, the at the time electric Harry Kewell and two players he'd signed previously but loaned out immediately to Le Havre, one the Top Goalscorer and the other Player of the Tournament in the World Youth Championships, Pongolle and Le tallec.

[115-1073096938]

and to be honest i think the answer to that is the answer to weather you are real Liverpool FC supporter or not.

'big up' to the whiston massive.

You what?

Speke lid yeah! Go ed lid! aaarrrr solid laaaaa.

[66-1112520797]

Can we please get over the fact that Gerard Houllier ultimately failed as manager at Liverpool Footbal lClub.

I think it is time people afforded the guy the respect and dignity his acheivements deserve.

Good call I dont understand the constant negativity towards the man, we wouldnt be where we are today without him .
He did make some bad signings and I'd like to think there were no bungs thrown in. But whatever the case it was him who started the ball rolling in terms of putting Liverpool football club rightly where it is today.

[AlanHansen]

This thread is 

Houllier did a lot for this club, rebuilt it and brought in some fantasic players - I was wetting myself when I seen Diouf and Diao at the world cup, it didn't work out but not all players can. He was stale by the end but I have a lot of respect for Houllier.

As for bungs, Has every manager that signed a dud taken one?   

[DAV]

bungs - no way
buying alot of - yes
Glad he's gone - yes
thanks for the cups u won us
dont come back and good luck

[RUSHIE#9]

If the quality of the signings that Houllier made is enough proof for some people that he was on the take then surley Graeme Souness was also on the fiddle during his time as manager. The people levelling this absurd accusation at Houllier really have got shit for brains. OK Diouf, Diao, Cheyrou and Jean Michelle Ferri all turned out to be terrible players for the club but that saimply doesn't mean Houllier was on the fiddle - it was just a massive misjudgement of their ability on his part. Grame Souness made soma absolute stinkers in the transfer market as well; as much as we try to forget there were Torben Piechnik, Istavan Kozma and Paul Stewart to mention just a few, 'cos they were bad players doesn't mean Souness was getting back handers from agents.
It all boils down to one simple explanation - MANAGERS CAN MAKE MISTAKES WHEN IT COMES TO TRANSFERS.
Until there is concrete proof of any illegal doings lay off houllier and any other manager, i say and just remember the good things about their managerial reigns at the club (thing in Sounesses case [HIM LEAVING ]

[banana]

I don't believe in goodness or kindness of any sort. Players are greedy, agents are greedy so why the hell do you think managers are otherwise? Why did GH (and his team) walk out the door with a £ 10 million golden handshake? If he wasn't greedy he surely would have said no thanks to that payoff. Also take into consideration that he had bagged £ 2 million per year for 6 years as LFC manager. He surely did not need that payoff to survive?

Then on to his transfer dealings. Some of them I find astonishing. My point of view is purely based on speculation as I have no evidence to back up my case. But from what I see and from what I know, he payed well over the odds for many a player. Some of them like Ferri, Sjolund and Kippe were so far from the standard we needed that it is hard to believe any manager would spend about £ 4 million combined on them ex wages. Corruption and greed is part of football on any level. Why was Marseilles relegated? How many referees have been caught fixing matches in the past 6 months? Why did the lights go out on late night matches in england a couple of years back? Why was George Graham sacked? Do you think that these incidents are isolated events? Corruption is a big part of football, and it could happen in any club in any country. Football is simply too big a business and too much money for it to be clean.

[Leonmc0708]

I don't believe in goodness or kindness of any sort.

I bet you that your kids hate Christmas and Birthdays lad.

[112-1077774096]

cisses tranfer to liverpool is one of the transfers under investigation by the french FA, this must also mean that houllier must also be involved somewhere along the line in the investigation.

im not saying hes guilty as no charges have been brought, im just clearing up his alleged involvement

[mikopool]

Houllier shouldn't be accused of this just because he overpayed for pants players, that man made us into a fantastic team one season, and did just as many great teams have done, unload and build for the future, he made a great short term team, then failed at the next step, but not in the slightest do I think he was being a dodgy prat about it.

[yckatbjywtbiastkamb]

i think bungs probably were part of the culture in football years ago when managers were paid not much more than the average working man.
but these days i just cant see someone risking a fabulous job and a fabulous wage for a few quid when they are already rich anyway.
i think these agents are at it, i dont think newell`s lying, but those types of spiv`s have been floating around any business that generates money for years, like the entertainment industry, music scene, film industry etc. those people smell cash like a shark.

[azriahmad]

Hard to say, this one.

We don't know the details necause we are not party to the dealings. To accuse someone of taking bungs without any evidence would really tarnish the person's integrity and reputation unfairly.

On the other hand, it is easy to see why there are such suspicions - Houllier paid silly money for mediocre talents. If one were to have access to inspect the transfer receipts from the selling clubs and match them against the reported transfer fees paid, then a more conclusive outlook can be obtained. There should be no necessity to inspect the agents' accounts as agenst should not get too large a fee - anyting more than 20% or 25% of the reported transfer fees should rightfully point towards kickback bungs.

Manure, with their transfers done by the son of Sir Alex, paid way too much in agents' fees. In this case, there would be no necessity to kickback these payments to him as his son can take care of that privately.

[Lando_Griffin]

This thread is 

Houllier did a lot for this club, rebuilt it and brought in some fantasic players - I was wetting myself when I seen Diouf and Diao at the world cup, it didn't work out but not all players can. He was stale by the end but I have a lot of respect for Houllier.

As for bungs, Has every manager that signed a dud taken one?   

You've touched on what I believe to be Houllier's main fault here.

Essentially Houllier bought players because of their reputations, without considering what they could bring to the team. He had no idea about their adaptability, then played certain ones (Diouf, Cheyrou, Biscan, etc) out of position.

Benitez buys a CM to be a CM. He picks out the players who will do the job required.
If Rafa want's a LB that can play LW, he'll buy one that can.
What he won't do is buy an attacking midfielder (Biscan) then play the poor bugger in central defence.


I don't think Houllier took any bungs, or even knew about them.
But I'm pretty confident that some low-life feckers have profitted handsomely from those transfers. 

[Big Niall]

I have little respect for his managerial "skills" and dislike him for taking £5m from this club as a reward for his failure. I also don't believe he left us better than Roy Evans (who never finished outside top 4 and didn't spend £100m).

I also think some of his buys were ridiculous and raise queries but it is unfair to say he was on the take until his name is at least brought up in the issue.

I'd be surprised if no managers were on the take though as there is so much money flying around.

[Houllier=LFC]

At least Roy Evans was playing attacking football, at some stage i was pretty sick of seeing 10 man behind the mid line with just a small boy in front week in week out.