Paranoid? Me?

Sunday, 13 April 2003, 0:00
2 mins read

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Apparantely, Liverpool’s favourite Frenchman believes that there are too many ex-Liverpool players now working in the media and most of them are on a witch hunt to slate his team. Of course, losing 4-0 at Old Trafford is not cause for a slating – these people are just desperate to see him fail.
Now if you take one of the most prominent ones in the media – Alan Hansen. Liverpool runs through his blood and he can usually see good in their performances even after a drubbing like that. Most ex-Liverpool players, especially those that fitted in at Anfield, just want the club to succeed.
Let’s remember here that Liverpool are a side that finished as runners-up to Arsenal last season and were tipped by many to be the champions this time around. Where do they sit? 6th, 15 points behind Manchester United and the title dream a distant memory. A media pundit is there to do a job and that is to comment on a team’s performances. Houllier simply has to accept this season that his side was not up to the job and has dramatically under achieved. What is he expecting here? A former Liverpool player now in the media to say “They have performed superbly all season but have lost all the games they have done so unluckily?” Somehow, I think that their employers would soon tire of that kind of bias and would just get rid of them. Result? Houllier is happy and there is an unemployed media pundit out there.
Managers need to accept that when things aren’t going as expected that people are going to make comment on it. After all, the same managers enjoy the plaudits when things are going well. Did you hear Mr Houllier talking about the former Liverpool players when he won three cups in 2001? Nope, nor me.
Full marks to the ex-players for not being afraid to speak their minds. The red half of the scouse city has dramatically under performed since the early days of the season and I am sure that even the ardent fans would tell you that the Worthington Cup is not really what they wanted from this season. They failed in Europe (twice) and they have failed miserably in the league. Oh, and they crashed out of the FA Cup pretty early on too. Everything there is not rosy and ex-player or not, if it’s your job then you are going to comment on it.
Before Mr Houllier gets too wrapped up he should look closer to home and his inability to play the same side twice in a row and some of the foreign imports that he has purchased that are simply not up to the job. And his assistant Mr Thompson should know better then to get into slanging matches with the media – you do that you get all you deserve.
Of course he is not alone. Managers up and down the country blame other people when things go wrong. It happens at Highbury, Old Trafford and even Ninian Park this season. Remember, if Cardiff don’t go up then apparantely it is the fault of Mike Morris and all the people that read his web-site. Absolute b s.
It must be part of a football manager’s CV to be so paranoid about what others think of you. Most of the time they can ignore it but it will usually surface after a bad defeat and then the whole world and his wife will hate you.
Paranoid? Paranoid? Who said I was paranoid? Was it you?

The Watching Eye will be taking a break for a couple of weeks now – back again to cast a look at anything from the world of football in three weeks (May 4th)

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