by bigmick » Mon Oct 29, 2007 9:07 pm
Wills no doubt you've got your own perspective on Houllier and his achievements, and fair enough. He did great things in "professionalising" the club after the spice boys era, steadied the ship and managed the club with dignity. Unfortunatlely when push came to shove, he wasn't up to taking us forward to the next level, and unfortunately in football if you don't move foirwards you move backwards. We were moving backwards when he left fella, make no mistake about that.
As for Rafa, he too has pulled us out of the tailspin and moved us back up there. The question of course now is, can he take us to the next level? Will we challenge for the Premiership and ultimately win it quicker if we leave Rafa in charge and let him go about things his way, or would we short cut the process by bringing somebody new in? I'm by no means advocating him, but would we for instance challenge for the title in a shorter period of time if Mourinho came in to replace our man?
This is ultimately the question, when the time of reckoning comes, which will decide if Rafa has a few more years or not. I've banged on about the methodology of launching a title challenge for years now, and as I've said before, if Rafa was to assert that he intends changing the team next season 75 times in the first fifteen games as well, then it would be time to look elsewhere. Why? because I don't think it's possible to launch a title challenge in the Premier League whilst employing such methods. It is my belief that if we were to continue along those lines, we are just wasting time and we might as well give somebody else a go.
One or two people have alluded to the fact that Ferguson almost walked at Man Utd and he did. As I remember it was an Away win int en FA Cup at Nottingham Forst that saved his bacon. The press were circling the City Ground convinced they were about to get their man when a certainMark Robins popped up witnh a goal or two in a 2-1 win. Adrian Heath similarly rescued Howard Kendall in a Milk Cup tie at Oxford (people used to take it seriously then, we won it nearly every year). The point about these events is that in both cases, the clubs had to field teams which were dessimated by injury and yet, the players came through.
I just wonder, could it be that the raft of injuries we currently have will absolutely force Rafa's hand, hold him in a straightjacket and make him play a settled team? Could it be that our sheer lack of numbers will be what is needed to finally convince him? I hope so, because when he comes to speak to the owners at the end of the season, the questions about rotation and the way we intend to conduct our next campaign will be at the top of their agenda in my opinion.
"se e in una bottigla ed e bianco, e latte".