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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.

What's all this talk about people wanting Shearer to start somewhere at a lower league club first? He'll just end up being another boring uninventive British manager, much like Hughes, Redknapp, Moyes etc. We also know that the experience of managing teams like Boro, Blackburn etc. will NOT prepare him, or anyone else, for managing us. Like fat Frank said, we're a different kettle of fish. And anyhow, we should be aiming for a manager who's either proven he has the skills, or shows massive potential. The latter of which I think Shearer is. He has the potential to be amazing here. He's gonna get time, it'll be his first time hence not being afraid to try new things, the board will back him and he'll be here long-term as opposed to Redknapp/Hughes. With Hughes and Redknapp, I sort of think that we know what we're going to get. The team will battle, try to play more football and will eventually improve from the position we're in but they're not going to be challenging for a top 4 place. Imo. With Hughes there's also the issue of him being 'destined' for the Man Utd job so he might be off in a few years, even if we're doing well. It's a tough choice to make, go for a known quantity, someone who will improve us and have us play better football, or go for a totally unknown character (managerial-wise) who has the potential to be something special, and there's no doubt Shearer's got that with the standing he has in the game and the respect he'll command from the players. And I hear all this talk about Hughes having played under great managers at Barca and of course Man Utd. But so has Shearer! He's played under SBR, Keegan, Dalglish etc. and all of them were great managers in their own respect as well. Honestly, it's heart over head, but I'd rather it'd be Shearer over Hughes. In the same vein, I also wouldn't mind a KK/Shearer tag-team over Hughes.

Shearer > Hughes imo. The potential of Shearer at Newcastle is more than someone like Hughes who'll be off in a few years when the slimey tit at Old Trafford retires. Shearer/Keegan would be best imo.

Lionel Messi says hello. And so does, to sound like a broken record, one Ricardo Izecson dos Santos Leite. You had to google that, didn't you?

Most of the article is spot on. Surely he can become a consultant for the club seeing as seems to know so many people and could really help Mort and Ashley out? Anyway, doesn't it put a smile on your face when you see him say that we belong in the Champions League? It's the kind of ambition that the chairman and owner need to have, or acquire, and soon.

The best player in the world by far. How many has Kaka got tihs season? 'By far' my arse. He still has not shown up in any big games. Kaka, on the other hand, only seems to show up in big games nowadays. It also doesn't help that the rest of teammates are 30+ and can barely run. But, if you were playing some random mid-table team and you had to pick one man to put in your team, you'd pick this diving little cunt over anyone else.

Shearer > Redknapp

jaw droppingly good. I still can't believe some people on the forum last year said they'd take Rooney over him

I'm gonna have to agree with this. It's been like a soap-opera over the past week.