SoccerA little bit of history repeating for the Reds?

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In the space of three months in 2001, Gerard Houllier wrote his name into Liverpool folklore. The Frenchman, who had moved to England after playing a significant role in his country’s 1998 World Cup triumph, collected a unique treble of League Cup, FA Cup and UEFA Cup.

It mattered little to the fans that the ‘big’ trophies had gone elsewhere. Manchester United were Premiership champions again by a 10 point margin, while Canadian born, future United purchase, Owen Hargreaves was winning the UEFA Champions League with Bayern Munich.

A few days after returning from Germany with European silverware in tow, Houllier invited the Liverpool-based media, me included, to a small gathering at the club’s Melwood training ground. A lavish buffet lunch was accompanied by champagne to celebrate Liverpool’s recent haul.

Monsieur Houllier was at his gregarious best. Relaxed and charming at the conclusion of a highly successful campaign, he invited the assembled journalists to have their picture taken with the three trophies on display.

Almost immediately the queue began to form. A group of cynical, no-nonsense, hard-bitten reporters reverted to their collective childhood, thrilled at the chance to actually touch THE FA Cup and physically lift THE UEFA Cup (which, by the way, is every bit as heavy as it appears).

I admit I was no different. This was a once in a lifetime photo-op and I was not going to let it pass me by. I know I was in the room. I took my turn being photographed. I have no evidence to support my claim.
Somewhere between the banks of the Mersey and the shores of Lake Ontario the picture has disappeared.

Houllier had reached his Anfield zenith. Liverpool fans will remind you his team went onto collect two more trophies in 2001 – the curtain raising FA Charity Shield and the UEFA Super Cup – but the slide had begun.

The engaging, humorous Frenchman gradually morphed into an impatient, rude disciplinarian who adopted a siege-like mentality as the big prizes continued to elude him and his team. There would be no more champagne moments before Houllier was finally relieved of his duties three seasons later.

I was in my final months with the BBC when a tanned, smiling, clean shaven Spaniard was introduced as Liverpool’s new manager in June 2004. Rafael Benitez is no longer clean shaven and, admittedly from a distance of 3,500 miles, I don’t see him smile much these days.

By the time Rafa’s rejuvenated Reds had exploded back onto the international scene as European champions within a year of his arrival, I was watching the astonishing final with a couple of hundred disbelieving Liverpool fans at a bar in Toronto.

Benitez tasted FA Cup glory in 2006 and a second Champions League final in 2007 but, like his predecessor, has failed to land the prize Liverpool fans covet above all others. Despite finishing runners-up last season, the English Premier League title has remained tantalizingly out of reach.

With the holiday season fast approaching there is little festive cheer around Anfield. A dismal failure in the Champions League will cost the club millions in lost revenue and the weekend loss to Arsenal represents Liverpool’s 6th defeat from 16 Premiership starts. They were beaten only twice in the entire previous campaign.

Any hope of catching the leaders already seems beyond Benitez with the season not yet at the halfway point. Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard are world class players but they, alone, cannot repair the damage and carry the team week in, week out.

The sale of Xabi Alonso to Real Madrid last summer, albeit for an inflated price, is only looking like good business to the bank manager right now. His replacement, Alberto Aquilani, has spent months on the treatment table and the Italian will take the rest of the season merely to find his feet in the hurly-burly of the English game.

Benitez, himself, has generally been spared the backlash of the fans – the majority reserve their condemnation for the club’s American owners. Messrs. Hicks and Gillett are seen by many as spendthrift, absent landlords who are ignorant of the game and dismissive of the club’s tradition.

There is definitely an argument to be made of the current deficiencies in the Liverpool dressing room. Either Benitez is making errors in the transfer market or the owners are not making enough money available to keep the team competitive. Either way the squad is simply not good enough because it doesn’t have enough strength in depth.

The net effect is equally simple. The Big Four has been reduced to a Big Three and Liverpool has been reduced to just one of a handful of teams battling for a top four finish. Manchester City, Aston Villa and Tottenham all sense the quartet’s domination is there to be broken for the first time in five years.

Ironically, Liverpool may well end the season back on the winners’ podium. The former UEFA Cup is now the re-branded UEFA Europa League and the Reds will be among the favourites to lift the trophy following their parachute out of Europe’s top competition.

Is it mere coincidence the final will be played in Germany – the country which hosted Houllier’s Heroes all those years ago? And if they bring the trophy back to Melwood next May will there be another photo-op with the silverware? And if so, should I be checking the price of spring charters to the UK?

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