Interesting reading from today's Guardian.....
Houllier has seven days to save his job
Dominic Fifield
Thursday May 20, 2004
Gérard Houllier has seven days to convince the Liverpool board that he should remain in charge at Anfield, with the club's refusal to offer any public backing merely helping to fuel rumours of the manager's imminent dismissal.
The Frenchman should learn definitively if he has a future on Merseyside at a board meeting scheduled for next Thursday, though the club maintained a stubborn silence yesterday in response to suggestions that Houllier could be removed from the position he has held on his own since November, 1998.
That merely added to the ominous sense of intrigue, with a number of directors on Liverpool's eight-man board known to favour a change. The club's hierarchy will spend the next few days reviewing the manager's position, with Houllier aware he must convince the chairman David Moores, who remains instinctively supportive, of the viability of his future plans if he is to survive.
The chairman's 51% stake ensures he will have the final say on whether the manager is backed or sacked, regardless of the views of the other directors. Moores remains ever conscious that the 56-year-old has steered Liverpool to four major trophies and salvaged a chance of returning to the lucrative Champions League, having cited a fourth-place finish as the "minimum acceptable requirement" at the turn of the year.
Not that this appears to have guaranteed Houllier will keep his job. The Frenchman has one season to run on his £1.5m-a- year contract, with the club having long intended to review his performance this summer. Those discussions will not only give directors the chance to air their opinions - the majority of the eight men are thought to be highly critical of his performance and sceptical about the merits in retaining him - but will also see Houllier attempt to convince them that he can yet transform the club into title challengers.
He has already earmarked potential signings for next season, with negotiations ongoing over the potential £7.5m purchase of Alan Smith from Leeds and Djibril Cissé sure to join for£14m on July 1. But Houllier must also offer an insight into how the team's style of play, from their performances to training techniques, will improve next year.
The manager refused to be drawn on his future yesterday. "I have been holding meetings with staff preparing for next season," said Houllier. "I have been discussing contracts and other moves, as well as when the players will report back. So I am carrying on my work as normal and with the same dignity as normal." Yet his chances of staying will hinge on his success in persuading the board that he can muster a more coherent challenge - Liverpool finished 30 points behind Arsenal and only 27 ahead of Wolves this season - for a first championship since 1990 next term.
The directors' main doubts surround the manager's prowess in the transfer market, the memory still lingering of the £18m misspent in 2002 on El Hadji Diouf, Bruno Cheyrou and Salif Diao. That has made them wary of giving him carte blanche to spend the windfall expected either from the negotiations with the Thailand prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, or from other investment offers the club's financial advisers Hawkpoint Partners Ltd hope to attract.
The club's failure to provide any kind of backing yesterday cast further doubt on Houllier's prospects. The silence was mysterious given that there had seemed to be little friction between the Frenchman and his chairman over the weekend, when the manager was invited to attend the annual end-of-season party at Moores' Lake District property.
Yet last week's withering attack on his record by the would-be board member Steve Morgan prompted Houllier to seek his own assurances. He aired his grievances during a private meeting with the chief executive Rick Parry on Tuesday, only to come away more concerned than reassured, with Parry non-committal as to the manager's long-term future.