Posted: Fri Aug 14, 2009 12:50 pmIMHO I feel it is a little short sighted to put all the balme for the 19 years of failure in the league down to Souness. He came from Rangers having won things, but at that time the Scotish league was basically a one horse race as Celtic were in the doldrums.. He spent a lot of money there and bought titles but with a team that would have struggled to finish in the top half in the English league. With this point in mind i would argue that he did not have the experience to take Liverpool forward, and the brutish way he went about the job in the transfer market revealed naivity that cost us dearly. However I remember at the time most fans were behind his appointment, and approved of the "boot room" tradition continuing.
Also Souness was not in the job for that long, and did after all win the FA Cup. By the time he was eventually sacked there was not much money and Evans did not have sufficient resouces to rebuid the squad with qualty. He had the luxury of Fowler, Macmanaman, Redknap, and later Gerrard and Carra but around these players he did not have a lot to go with. I remember the signing of Paul Ince, and the misguided optimism that he was the final piece in the jigsaw. Having said that Evans was unlucky not to bring the title back to Anfield, and should be remembered fondly. His signing of Collymore backfired, a lot of money and for a start it seemed that he would be inspired (debut goal)! but at the time Collymores obvious mental illness was not recognised and he fell away and his career tailed off. A shame for such a talent.
Houllier came in and to this day Steven Gerrard recognises him as one of the biggest influences in his career. At the same time however he got rid of Robbie Fowler. He did a very good job and changed the clubs perception in general of the game, despite some dreadful signings and an often defensive approach. He was very successful in patches (that treble season still remains one of the clubs best ever) and laid the building blocks for where we are now. He begun to reform the club, and educated the board so that the current setup was able to grow.
Rafa has done things the right way. He has slowly evolved the squad and kept a core of English, Liverpool players around whom he has built his squad. We are now in a position where we should have been in the mid 90s, but the damage done by the club management and previous managers up until Houllier has taken a long time to reverse.
So that all said we can blame no single person. Everyone connected with the club in management, player or board level has had an impact that has effected the clubs fortunes in both positive and negative ways. I dont just blame Souness as most do however.
Also Souness was not in the job for that long, and did after all win the FA Cup. By the time he was eventually sacked there was not much money and Evans did not have sufficient resouces to rebuid the squad with qualty. He had the luxury of Fowler, Macmanaman, Redknap, and later Gerrard and Carra but around these players he did not have a lot to go with. I remember the signing of Paul Ince, and the misguided optimism that he was the final piece in the jigsaw. Having said that Evans was unlucky not to bring the title back to Anfield, and should be remembered fondly. His signing of Collymore backfired, a lot of money and for a start it seemed that he would be inspired (debut goal)! but at the time Collymores obvious mental illness was not recognised and he fell away and his career tailed off. A shame for such a talent.
Houllier came in and to this day Steven Gerrard recognises him as one of the biggest influences in his career. At the same time however he got rid of Robbie Fowler. He did a very good job and changed the clubs perception in general of the game, despite some dreadful signings and an often defensive approach. He was very successful in patches (that treble season still remains one of the clubs best ever) and laid the building blocks for where we are now. He begun to reform the club, and educated the board so that the current setup was able to grow.
Rafa has done things the right way. He has slowly evolved the squad and kept a core of English, Liverpool players around whom he has built his squad. We are now in a position where we should have been in the mid 90s, but the damage done by the club management and previous managers up until Houllier has taken a long time to reverse.
So that all said we can blame no single person. Everyone connected with the club in management, player or board level has had an impact that has effected the clubs fortunes in both positive and negative ways. I dont just blame Souness as most do however.