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From .com, it seems that Fatih Terim is 'endorsed' by SBR.

Getting an unfancied French side to the CL final and losing to arguably the best manager in the world good enough? Great achievement but is all the hype really coming because of that? He jumped ship when Monaco were 15th after being there 16 months and took an excellent Juventus squad with plenty of top players out of Serie B, he left them after falling out over transfers or something. Like I've said, I'm not knocking the bloke because I don't know that much about him, I'm guessing some on here who are jumping on the bandwagon don't know that much about him either, I'm approaching his appointment with an open mind but I'd like someone to tell me what is so good about him. Isn't he just like Klinsmann/Shearer/Van Basten? I don't see any difference between any in those group. They're all relatively inexperienced but had great footballing careers and is widely respected around the world. On a tangential note, I think each of them are different and it's up to Mort to identify which one of them will fit in with the club best. Frank Rijkaard relegated the first club team he managed, then got sacked. But somehow, for his second job, he was appointed manager of Barcelona. Laporta and co saw something in Rijkaard and knew he'd be good and he's proven them right. I hope Mort/Ashley can be as astute and ambitious.

It's been such a rollercoaster ride. How typical of Newcastle Utd

No 'official' approach. Bet there's been an unofficial one though

me too Everytime we get linked with an exciting manager, I get sucked in.

He's also agile, is actually pacey and has good control with the ball. I don't see what's wrong with him individually, more of a case of the whole defence not communicating and thus losing all those silly goals on Saturday. Nothing a good manager can't sort out. In fact, I'd say we'd actually have a good defence if a manager sorts them out. All of them are good enough individually (Beye, Taylor, Faye and Enrique) imo.

So they wouldn't have failed the first test after all then?

It is exciting, but I'm nervous as well.

How about Houllier as DOF, Keegan as manager, Shearer as his assistant and Deschamps as our CM?

Tbf, he's only had one real job. The other one was a mickey mouse one in which anyone could have succeeded (bringing Juve back up). It's an ambitious move and has come out of nowhere but I don't see much difference between him and Shearer. He'll know more about football in general because of his international and club experience but Shearer will get more time from our fans. I wonder why they've gone for him and not Shearer Really?? They started on minus 10 points wasn't it? Plus I'm sure quite a few of there best players left as well, yet they still finished top. Minus 15, I thought EDIT - Was 9 Not much, is it? They drew their first game then went on a 7 game winning streak and had closed most of the gap already. They had Buffon, Legrotaglie (sp?), Zanetti, Nedved, Trezeguet, Bojinov, Del Piero, Zebina, Boumsong etc. Most of them are internationals who are still there for Juve today (and they're in 3rd place I think).

Houllier in a heartbeat.

but I don't see much difference between him and Shearer. Apart from he has managed two teams compared to Shearers none, one of which got to the European Cup Final oh and the fact he has won the World cup and European championships as a player, two champions league medals, 3 French titles, three Serie A titles and an FA cup winners medal! What he's achieved has a player has him in good standing in terms of reputation in the footballing world, but so has Shearer. In fact, Shearer was more successful individually as well so I'd say that evens out. And regarding his managerial history, you're discounting the fact that this is Shearer at Newcastle we're talking about. If you mention a random club and say Shearer or Deschamps, it'd be Deschamps every time. But this is Newcastle we're talking about. Shearer will get more time than almost any other manager out there except Mourinho/Wenger/Ferguson. Shearer will also get the full backing and support from all of the fans. He also 'knows' the club and what 'we' want. All of those factors are things that Deschamps does not have going for him, which is why I said, in the end, there's not much difference between the two. And taking Juve back up to Serie A was piss-easy, anyone could have done it

Tbf, he's only had one real job. The other one was a mickey mouse one in which anyone could have succeeded (bringing Juve back up). It's an ambitious move and has come out of nowhere but I don't see much difference between him and Shearer. He'll know more about football in general because of his international and club experience but Shearer will get more time from our fans. I wonder why they've gone for him and not Shearer They both will have my backing anyway so it's a moot point really. He's more than good enough for us if people think Shearer is.

Wow. Ambitious move. Credit to Mort if this is true He's a Shearer/Klinsmann/Van Basten type of manager imo. Not much experience but highly regarded in the footballing world. He'll also have quite a few contacts having played and managed in Italy, England and France. Had his Monaco team playing excellent football in the year they lost to Porto as well. But, he does have a history of falling out with clubs he's managed (2 out of 2 for him) so that'll be worth taking into consideration.

We'll need him with Butt and Smith now suspended for a couple of games. And with Geremi off to the ANC, don't we only have him and Emre who are natural center midfielders?

Houllier's also been responsible for the development of France's two brightest footballing talents - Ben Arfa and Benzema. [FM] Plus, I think he signed Toulalan for Lyon and he'll be awesome in a few years. [/FM]

Chelsea's problems last season were due to the Roman and Mourinho thing. He showed in the two seasons before that how good a motivator he is. Liverpool do have class players. Their midfield is stacked with quality players. Mascherano, Gerrard and probably Alonso would get into Chelsea's team now. Torres is also a quality striker, and Mourinho won the title with Drogba as his only quality striker. It's a silly discussion really because it's all hypothetical but Mourinho > Rafa.

Young English talent isn't that hard to find. I mean, not that I'm underestimating the time and effort that scouts put in to discover the next Wayne Rooney, but when a kid looks promising, you'll have many clubs start sniffing around when he's only 16/17. And we're not in a position to compete with those clubs. Walcott's a good example of a bright young English footballer who generated interest before he could even sign a professional contract! But with talent abroad, if you have the right contacts and know the 'right' people, you will find many more gems ala Zoggy. And they won't cost £12m like Walcott did, or £1.5m like Ben Tozer did. That's how Wenger's built up his Arsenal team. If Houllier gets a decent shot at this job, I reckon, in time, this will be how he'll want to build his team as well. He certainly tried to do that at Liverpool by signing Le Tallec, Pongolle, the young keeper and Diarra. And since it seems that France seems to be the hotbed for young football talent, we'll be hiring someone whose job is to KNOW where the talented ones are and whose job is to develop it. Houllier's the man for us

He's been my first choice since the SBR days. Wanted him before we got Roeder, wanted him before we got Allardyce and now he's still my first choice. People underestimate how experienced and intelligent Houllier is. I think he'd be perfect here. Ask any knowledgable Liverpool fan now and they'll say they appreciate what he did for the club - and as a rule of thumb, that's always a good way to judge a manager.

I agree with the poster who said Mourinho would win the title with Liverpool's squad.

Houllier will give us a massive advantage in terms of contacts abroad. It's harder and more expensive to buy British talent nowadays which is why you need contacts set up abroad. Wenger has his in France and Africa. Even Sam had quite a few contacts as well. If you look further, you'll see Fergie's starting to develop contacts in Portugal, Rafa has contacts in Spain etc. and so Houllier will provide us with quite a few in France since he is still the technical director for the FFF. If we get a British manager, odds are his 'contacts' will be in England and as I've already mentioned, British players, even the average ones, are very expensive nowadays.

Me too.

Not sure it's going to be as easy as just choosing Keegan or Shearer if all else fails. They will want guarantees for spend in the transfer market and I'm not sure Ashley and Mort (bring money in before we spend) is going to be that easily swayed. 10 or 20m net won't do it. Mort seems to be the accountant balancing the books type. But Ashley, I think, seems to be really cavalier and will go all-guns-blazing for trophies, top 4 finishes etc. They're a good partnership imo, and I trust them to deliver success to the club eventually. They're still on a learning curve as well (hence the Redknapp thing) so you've gotta take that into account. Anyway, I expect Ashley to back whoever is appointed. Just need the fans to fully be behind whoever is appointed as well.

Good for him.

How would Hughes be better than Houllier?! I think people are actually forgetting, deliberately or not, what kind of fans we have. We need everyone to stand united behind a manager and give him time. Hughes will not get that kind of support. I hope the board, when assessing each candidate, realizes that this issue is of utmost importance. If all of us support a manager from the off, I swear we'll be successful. We supported KK from the off. We supported SBR from the off. Roeder, Souness and Sam obviously weren't, so there's something there that needs to be looked at as well.