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With regards to Houllier, there have been rumours for a while now that he's unsettled at Lyon. I also think he's been quoted in the press in the past saying he would like to manage in the Premiership again. We were also linked with him after Souness was sacked. Another factor I also believe is important is what his previous club's fan's think of him, and from what I've read/seen/heard, the scousers think he did exceptionally well with them. I think he's a really logical choice for us. He'd need time obviously, but he'd build from the back. His teams have always been disciplined as well which shows that he's able to drill players to do certain things which were 'unnatural' before. He's able to drill them to move into certain positions/make certain passes without thinking too much. That's a sign of a good manager. It's the same with Fergie tbh. That's why when Manyoo played at SJP this season they dominated with Scholes and Fletcher in the center of midfield. Not the fastest, biggest, strongest players but everything they did was instinctive and compared to what some of our players do (ie. Parker twirling on the ball), it just showed how good they were being coached and how our players weren't really being coached at all. I believe, given time, Houllier can transform our team. Obviously he'll transform our team in a different manner than what Fergie's doing with Manyoo, but our team will be well coached, Houllier's team always have been, even if they're a little boring. I also believe this with SGE and to an extent, Allardyce (although his ability to attract players and maybe control the dressing room are two things which I'm unsure about).

Is Houllier available? I thought he was still employed by Lyon. And imho there is no better time to take a risk then now. The club is lumbering in mediocrity. No European football next season. A bunch of overpaid, but underperforming yokels. The club needs a total revamp at every level. At the moment it is run like a pub team. And I'd have more faith in Klinsmann doing it, because he has a certain philosophy and ideas than someone like Eriksson who I don't think as someone with strategic thinking. I also don't get the difference between club and country. A lot of those things Klinsmann did for the national team were rather things you expected being done at club level. In fact there was a huge controversy with club managers who thought that Klinsmann's work was too much interfering with their own work. A lot of them now starting to implement some of the ideas now... I stand by my point of view that Klinsmann would be a rather inspirational choice than a manager who lives from his club track record ages ago... The main difference between club and country is when managing a country, you get 2-3 weeks to drill the players into a style of play which you desire, which is a very difficult thing because the rest of the time, those players are drilled to do something different for their club. Which is more likely? A player behaving in a way he normally does for 40+ weeks or him changing his natural behaviour/response for 2 weeks? That's why the best managers usually tend to change their formation to hide the prevalent weaknesses of the his players and focus on the strengths that they already show (note - Brazil). With club managers, you get months to drill the players, which of course helps. But if you don't know what you're doing (note - Roeder), then the players will come out playing with no shape, no tactical awareness, no idea of where to pass the ball next, what runs to make, where to defend etc. etc. Klinsmann doesn't have a track record with managing clubs. He hasn't shown that he can handle everything associated with managing a club, especially a big club whose fans are incredibly demanding (like us). What he's done with Germany was special, and his reputation is deservedly better because of it, but we're still taking a leap of faith if we expect him to be able to handle everything involved in managing a club (ie. day-to-day stuff) when he's had no prior experience. He won't have 3 months to create a game plan, he'll have 3 days. Massive difference. Massive jump.

I do believe the club has the foundations in place to attract the best managers in the world. We only need one to right the so many wrongs at our club. The only thing I'm uncertain about is how much control will Fred give to the new manager. If it's a 100%, then this job is not a 'poison-chaliced' (as soccernet dubbed it a couple of years ago), but one that should be incredibly attractive.

Been linked in the papers as recently as today? I'm just putting the names that have cropped up. If you were Ramos would you even consider coming to NUFC? Chance to revive arguably one of the biggest clubs in England? If successful will elevate him into the level of Mourinho, Wenger etc. meaning his next job could be anything? Will have finance? A new challenge in a new league and all? Sure, why not? Fact is, at Sevilla he'll achieve something this season (probably win the UEFA Cup) but there'll come a time when his best players will be sold (Alves, Kanoute, Maresca, the pacey right winger whose name escapes me atm) and then Sevilla will become an also-ran much like Deportivo. There are parallels between how the two clubs have elevated into the top of the Spanish league and much like Depor did, I expect Sevilla to drop down in a couple of years. Ramos' stock is nearly as high as it can possibly be (barring a fantastic Champions League run next year - if his players are still all there of course), which is why it'd be logical for him to try to step up into the next managerial stratosphere. Look where Irureta has ended up after his success with Deportivo, surely Ramos can learn from that.

Been linked in the papers as recently as today? I'm just putting the names that have cropped up.

Managing a country and a club are two different things though. This is not a time to take stupid risks like Klinsmann if people like Eriksson and Houllier are available. If we're stuck between Bruce, O'Leary, some other riff-raff and Klinsmann then we can take a leap of faith. But why take it unnecessarily?

What a shit thread

No This is much more sensible than yours!

In our current state, we're not going to be able to attract managers such as Wenger, Mourinho etc. etc. These are a list of managers whom we've been previously linked with and/or can attract them to the club. Eriksson has said he wants to manage in England, there've been rumblings in France that Houllier wants another crack at the Premiership, Allardyce is of course the favourite to take over atm, whilst Koeman seems to leaving PSV with the intent of joining the Premiership. There's also the usual names that keep cropping up ie. Shearer, Hughes and Bruce (please no!). Vote for you who you want out of these lot, bearing in mind their experience, style of play, ability to attract players to the club, ability to control the dressing room, ability to tell FS to 'fuck off' if needed and other abilities that you think a manager of our club should have. VOTE AWAY! Edit - If you vote 'Other', state your preference and explain why he'd be a better fit than the current crop that I've listed. I doubt there are more than a few managers that we realistically will be better off if we hire them (that aren't on the list), but if you think there are, do mention.

OMFG, someone voted Steve Bruce and another one voted David Moyes. DOES ANYONE SERIOUSLY THINK THEM TWO ARE BETTER THAN MOURINHO/WENGER/HOULLIER/LIPPI/SCOLARI!?!?

Maybe the list should not include someone as unlikely as Mourinho? I mean, honestly, who's not going to vote for him or say Wenger? Does someone seriously believe Allardyce is better than Mourinho?

How would Klinsmann be good? He's fucking overrated based on a decent WC with Germany. Was mauled by the German press before that. He's never managed a club as well which makes him possibly the biggest risk out there. FFS people, we have to get this right. This is the chance to right quite a lot of things at the club. We should be looking at managers with a track record in the Premiership or at least a record in the top leagues in Europe. Look at someone who's big enough to handle the over-inflated egos in our dressing room, someone who has the ability to attract top name players to our club and also someone who's team play disciplined football (whether boring or not, that's another matter).

must be taking the piss. Or he's just Vicky reincarnated.

Don't think he would want to leave Bayern to come to us A Houllier or Eriksson campaign would be delightful though.

Very honourable.

That'd be shocking, if true, considering how much he's said 'I know I can do this' bla bla bla.

They can announce it. Look, if we sack him now, we can announce it to the whole world and we wouldn't be breaking any laws. We just have to announce to the stock market as it opens again. There's nothing wrong with announcing it now!! There's nothing wron with signing players on a Saturday, nothing wrong with firing managers on the weekend/holiday/whatever!

You are aware of Ranieri's unimpressive CV non? He barely managed to outdo SBR and a bloke Liverpool sacked despite being bankrolled like no other before him You're ignoring when he beat Liverpool for 4th place spending basically nothing. And when he came 2nd in the year Arsenal dominated the league, he was sacked. I'm not saying he's Mourinho, but where have Chelsea ended up this year?

Wouldn't mind Ranieri actually. He's proven in the Premiership, and he has a comical almost Robson-esque feel to him. You just can't help but get behind him and his team. Plus, he's managed in three different leagues, which will obviously be advantageous in terms of contacts, scouting etc. I hope we at least take a look at him tbh.

Look up two posts above

Come on Freddy, finish your pies and do it!

Big Sam's alright. But honestly, he'll jump on the England job as soon as it's available, which could be soon meaning he wouldn't want to commit to us. Plus, he's unproven at the highest level (ie. at a big club). Why do we have to take a risk and appoint him? You say because there's no one else available? Wrong. Eriksson's available. We've also heard rumblings that Houllier isn't really happy at Lyon and wants another crack at the Premiership. Why would either of them want to manage us? Honestly, the foundations are there. The academy's set up. The players are decent, they just need good coaching (a strong point for both Eriksson and Houllier. Note - Liverpool's disciplined defense when Houllier was there and Eriksson's Lazio winning the Serie A). We can get them. The finance is set up as well. Just make the right appointment this time and we'll be back up there - I firmly believe this. We can attract them, and we should at least try. We've sacked Roeder at the right time, giving us ample opportunity to scour the world for the best managers. The summer transfer window isn't going to open in a month, meaning we could appoint a new manager between then and give him the whole window to work with.

Houllier or Eriksson. Let's hope Freddy can over his not wanting to hire a foreign manager syndrome and get one of these two in.

I remember the Gullit season being dreadful. But fuck me, can't believe we're going to end up with a possibly lower point total (someone correct me if I'm wrong). Fan apathy is already rife. Lets see how this affects the season ticket renewals.

You must believe HTL. He has inside information. That is how he knows about this.