Re: I see nobody is here defending the FAT *** tonight

On Mon, 05 Oct 2009 12:33:36 +0100, Red Rackham wrote:

"Pope Pompous XVIII"


Houllier hardly got everything right, he didn't win any major
trophies.

If the FA Cup isn't a major trophy then your treble isn't a major
treble.


The FA cup can be won by teams like Southampton, Man City, Wimbledon and
Portsmouth. The Premiership and CL trophy cannot.

Then the only part of your Treble that matters is the Double.

Agreed?


The critical thing here is the order in which the manager succeeds and
fails.

The critical thing is how much faith you are prepared to invest in a
manager who is clearly failing, and how this faith at precisely this
moment *is the only thing* that can turn failure into success.



Faith is of course a major theme in your life. And why not?

But faith in the face of reason is idiocy.


Faith in the face of whose reason? Who defines what is reasonable? Is it
reasonable to speculate Houllier could have bounced back after that 18-
month spell and taken Liverpool higher? Of course it is? It might not be
probable, but it is *reasonable*.


Liverpool
have had the players to win the title over the last ten years.


No. Trust me. They haven't.


Coming second twice, in 2002 and 2009, suggests they have.


What they
have not had is the mental /je ne sais quoi/ which turns also-rans into
title winners. That /je ne sais quoi/ can't be bought. Nor can it sit
on the bench and come on when you're a goal down.


The above is commonly known as a 'manager'.



Nor is it something a
manager can deliver. Only the club *as a whole* can deliver this
resounding Yes when all around them are howls of laughter, mocking the
manager for his failures.



Your slipping off into meaningless hyperbole again pope.

All you need for success in the Premiership is the right manager with
enough money to buy the players he wants and enough skill to spot and
develop younger players.

Now Liverpool have clearly had enough money. They've spent more than
United since they last won the title so nothing missing on that front.

So it must be down to the manager again. Liverpool's haven't been good
enough since Dalglish. It's as simple as that.




If Liverpool held their nerve in May 2004 there would be quite a few
red faces today, I can guarantee you that. But then again, there are
quite a few red faces today aren't there?


Even if I agreed with the above, which I don't, you can only put their
inability to hold their nerve down to ... yes, you guessed it ... the
manager.




You are allowed a period of adjustment when you arrive at a club, a
time in which a manager molds the club to his vision. After which
should come the success.

Houllier arrived in November 98. By November 2001 he'd become the first
club manager in the world to win 6 trophies in a calendar year.


A meaningless stat used to dress up underachievement. The only ones that
count in football are the league and the champions league.



By May
2002 he'd taken us to second place. In November 2002 we were riding
high at the top of the Premier League. Less than 18 months later he was
sacked. His crime? Signing two Africans whom the fans and board and of
course senior internationals deemed "not worthy".


His crime was taking the team backwards. Running out of ideas. Giving
more and more embarrassing press conferences blaming everything but his
own incompetence for Liverpool's continued failure.

Embarrassing press conferences like the one Sir Alex gave Saturday, when
he tried to cover up the shortcomings in his squad by calling attention
to the refereee's fitness?
--
"There is absolutely no doubt that the so-called 'First' World has
exported up to now and continues to export its spiritual toxic waste that
contaminates the peoples of other continents, particularly those of
Africa" - His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI, 2009 AD
.

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