by supersub » Tue Sep 16, 2003 8:49 pm
Gerard Houllier was appointed joint manager of Liverpool inJuly 1998 to work alongside Roy Evans.Houllier had previously been the technical director of French football but with the French victory in the 1998 World Cup he decided to relinquish the post.GH had never played professional football but became a Liverpool fan in the 1960's whilst teaching in the city.He had coaching jobs at Lens and Paris St.Germain before becoming coach of the national side.
The partnership with Roy Evans,however, never really worked and when Evans resigned in November 1998,Houllier was appointed sole manager.He began his reign quietly,allowing each player the chance to demonstrate his claim to a place.But at the end of a frustrating season the guillotine fell as Houllier initiated the biggest turnover in staff since the early days of Bill Shankly.Captain Paul Ince,David James,Jason McAteer and Oyvind Leonhardsen,among others,were all shown the door while £23 millionworth of foreign imports moved in to take their places.He was not afraid toback his own judgement,spending £11 million on Emile Heskey when others were sceptical.In the end he was proved right,to a degree,when Heskey became an international and Liverpool went on to win three cups by the end of the 2000-2001 season.
Season 2001-2002 saw liverpool finish runners-up to Arsenal and qualify for the champions league and the following season another victory over Manchester United in the league cup was achieved.Failure to qualify for the champions league has put a little bit of pressure on Gerard Houllier to deliver concrete evidence this season,that Liverpool will be back amongst the leading contenders when the league title is decided in May 2004.
THERE'S A GREAT BIG BEAUTIFUL TOMORROW SHINING AT THE END OF EVERY DAY.
THERE'S A GREAT BIG BEAUTIFUL TOMORROW AND TOMORROW IS JUST A DREAM AWAY.