Worst LFC manager of recent times?

Has to be Roy Evans

As far as I'm concerned Graeme Souness had a massive job on his hands when he took over.  I still think fair play for getting rid of a lot of players who didn't want to play for the club even if they were big names.  The 'Paycheck Charlies' they had become.  He blooded a whole host of new players.

But Roy Evans had some amazing talent at his disposal, partly thanks to Souness, and he failed to keep them in line.  I am convinced that with a more authoritarian manager that team really could have landed a title for us.

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Never thought we'd get this low....are you that desperate for a topic JD?! How about rephrasing to...'Least Productive'. Which is the lovable but should never have left the 'boot room', Evans....or 'The F*cker who let Fowler go'.....in that case its Houllier.....god I hate this topic....like saying which childhood pet was your favourite....

Also...whatever you choose you know that EddieC will crucify you for it!!

Roy Evans had the big job of clearing Souness's mess remember. Souness took over from King Kenny,chopped & changed the whole team,then tried to buy success,He single handedly ballsed the whole club up.Liverpool never recovered.Evans just could'nt repair the damage,nor could Houllier.Rafa's changing all that though.You only have to look what he's done so far.There's great times ahead for Liverpool,

does anyone ever read the previous poster's opinion anymore?.....read, comment and then make your point...

Who in right mind is going to pick Shankley or Paisley as the Worst manager of all time?

Soledee!!!! Come on please do it....with the Hatton fight approaching I need a way to get out my aggression!!

im going to say Houllier. Him and his 5 year plan. Truth is it was great winning the treble 2001 no doubt but a great manager would have kicked on from there he didnt. Our best run in the league was when thommo took charge cos of Houlliers health problems.

He bought some good players in like Hamann Hyppia and Henchoz but was also quick to bomb lads out like Babbel and of course Fowler and replace them with sh*te like Diao Diouf Cheyrou he also signed Jean michel Ferri anybody remember him?

Basically for me Houllier was a bullshitter and if we had have left Roy Evans there and gave him the funds to get a good centre half and keeper we wouldnt be still waiting on number 19
 

Houllier for me. Who chooses Diouf over Anelka? He brought in absolute rubbish players at times that left me wondering. Although Rafa hasnt made all perfect signings, he realises it, admits it and moves on and buys an absolute gem. Cheyrou, Diao, Traore, Diouf, let Fowler go. He was a mess.

I don't think Houllier gets the credit he deserves, and that is due to one summer of madness when he signed Diouf, Diao et al.

Gerard single handedly dragged this club into the 21st century, and he was the guy who raised our levels of expectation again. Before the arrival of Houllier we were worryingly starting to get used to mediocrity, Champions League qualification was a bonus rather than an expectation before Houllier arrived, he raised the bar which in turn helped contribute to his downfall.

Admittedly in that last summer Houllier made some bizarre signings, but being honest after seeing Diouf & Diao in the World Cup who wasn't excited at the prospect? At the other end of the scale he also made some brilliant signings, the purchases of Hyypia, Henchoz & Babbel saw us have a defence that was the envy of Europe, and Riise whilst IMO not being good enough anymore was a steal for £4m at the time. Didi Hamman of course was an awesome player too, but for me the most inspired signing he made was Gary McAllister. I honestly believe if we hadn't signed Gary Mac we wouldn't have the Stevie Gerrard we have today, he was the old hand teaching Stevie all the tricks of the trade as he broke through the ranks.

For me it is definitely between Souness & Evans as to who has been the worst manager in recent times, I would go for Souness as he's also gone on to do a shoddy job elsewhere, proving it wasn't just a one off. How Houllier is in the running for some people though is beyond me.

simple Eddie. Roy Evans and Graeme Souness never said "I have a 5 year plan" and in year 6 be as far away as year one. A lot of you are blinded by 2001 which as i said was great to win a few trophies. At the end of the day he came second once. He counted charity shields as being of importance to win. He disregarded players at will if they didnt take to his suiting, Fowler being the best example.

Souness has admiitted he was too quick to sell some players to soon but he brought thru Robbie Redknapp Macca when they were kids and they done well for the club. Roy Evans side was a very good side who sadly made too many defensive blunders which cost them but they came closer then Houlliers team. Houllier to this day would come up with some excuse anything but say he wasnt good enough.

Can't knock Houllier.  Practically his team that won the Champions League.

Whats the point in this post?? Lame if you ask me also you are not being fair with regards to the list of managers, you are going by modern times, what about Phil Taylor? we languished in the second division with him, And Don Welsh? we actually got relegated under him!! And he was sacked because we didnt win promotion straight back to the first Dvision, so I would say Don Welsh would have to be the worst going by what you are surmising here.

Also I would agree with what lester is saying least productive might have been more politcally correct.

im going to say Houllier. Him and his 5 year plan. Truth is it was great winning the treble 2001 no doubt but a great manager would have kicked on from there he didnt. Our best run in the league was when thommo took charge cos of Houlliers health problems.

He bought some good players in like Hamann Hyppia and Henchoz but was also quick to bomb lads out like Babbel and of course Fowler and replace them with sh*te like Diao Diouf Cheyrou he also signed Jean michel Ferri anybody remember him?

Basically for me Houllier was a bullshitter and if we had have left Roy Evans there and gave him the funds to get a good centre half and keeper we wouldnt be still waiting on number 19
 

As I recall Liverpool FC did give Roy Evans the funds to get a good centre half, and he used them getting Babb & Scales, but he did have a lot of rebuilding to do after the Souness reign. Souness tried to change too much too soon when he took charge of Liverpool and it backfired big time.  Yes he gave the likes of McManaman, Fowler, and Jamie Redknapp their chance, but they were already at the club when he arrived and would surely have been given opportunities under any other Manager. Simply put, Souness made too many mistakes, and sold players that he shouldn't have.  The likes of Nick Tanner should never have got anywhere near Liverpool's first team, but Souness didn't build from the back as he should have done in my opinion, therefore, player's who clearly weren't at the level expected for Liverpool Football Club were given opportunities, along with the players who were suited to the job.
During the Roy Evans reign I didn't agree with the 3-5-2 formation because I thought that possibly the best right full-back in the country was being played out of position which was ridiculous in my opinion.  There's no doubt in my mind that Rob Jones should have been played at Right Back in a 4-4-2 formation, and I also thought (at the time) that both Babb & Scales weren't good enough for Liverpool, but if you took Mark Wright out of the picture they were better than what we had.  However, I think that Roy Evans could have got better players for the money.  Evans also signed Jason Mcateer and played him out of position as a right wing back.  Ok, he did a job, but he built his reputation as a central midfielder...
Roy Evans had Liverpool playing attractive football again after the Souness reign in my opinion, and Houllier took the club to another level after Evans, but the bottom line is that neither Souness, or Evans proved good enough for Liverpool FC, and although Houllier won a lot more trophies than both of those Managers I don't really see the point in debating who was the worst... They just weren't good enough.

Can I request you add Phil Thompson to the poll?
he was sh*t and if it wasn't for Houllier's continued input while they were joint in charge god knows where we would be by now.  I also think that this is a bit of a desperate thread, why are we focussing on the negative points of our manager's anyway? I thought you knew better JD!

Can I request you add Phil Thompson to the poll?
he was sh*t and if it wasn't for Houllier's continued input while they were joint in charge god knows where we would be by now.  I also think that this is a bit of a desperate thread, why are we focussing on the negative points of our manager's anyway? I thought you knew better JD!

I think that's a bit unfair to be honest.  Phil Thompson was thrown in at the deep end and got on with it, and in that respect i think he did pretty well.  When he took over in Houllier's absence there was talk of someone being brought in to help, but that never materialised.

Got to be Souness. No question.

I'd say stop here, don't look back. The damaged done cannot be undone. What good comes out of it even if we are able to identity the worst manager? It will only open up old wounds. I'd say the failure of the managers could also be attributed to many factors and constraints that are not known to us but only to those managers themselves back then. I wouldn't put the total blame on the managers though, but those who put them in that position. 17, or is it 18 long years is a long drought and its the total system and management that needs rethinking and revamping.

Can't knock Houllier.  Practically his team that won the Champions League.

well why did he not win it with them then? I recall he took Hamann off at a vital stage in the Leverkeusen game  when we were doing well. Why did he make that change and why wouldnt he admit he was wrong to do it

Look I can see why you all love him and why your all voting Souness but this lad had it all in his hands and bottled it. After 01 we should have really pushed on we didnt and its his fault simple as that  

well why did he not win it with them then? I recall he took Hamann off at a vital stage in the Leverkeusen game  when we were doing well. Why did he make that change and why wouldnt he admit he was wrong to do it

Look I can see why you all love him and why your all voting Souness but this lad had it all in his hands and bottled it. After 01 we should have really pushed on we didnt and its his fault simple as that  

I can't understand the mentality that it was Houllier's team that won the Champions League. It wasn't!  He may have signed the majority of the players but it wasn't his team. A new manager would have his own ideas of how a team should be playing etc, and have a completely different outlook to the former Manager, not to mention that Xavi Alonso, and Luis Garcia were a part of the Champions League winning side. It's a little like saying that Kenny Dalglish's double winning side in his first season was really Joe Fagan's side.  

I think that's a bit unfair to be honest.  Phil Thompson was thrown in at the deep end and got on with it, and in that respect I think he did pretty well.  When he took over in Houllier's absence there was talk of someone being brought in to help, but that never materialised.

 Rafa was in exactally the same position as Thompson and he went on to win us the bloody champions league for fucks sake!

Rafa was in exactally the same position as Thompson and he went on to win us the bloody champions league for fucks sake!

Yes, but one was regarded as a world class Manager, and the other was an assistant to Gerard Houllier who was asked to fill a void.  The majority of Liverpool Fans would've realised that Phil Thompson wouldn't (and indeed shouldn't) have been considered as a full time Liverpool Manager, and Full Time manager's make their own changes and sign their own players etc, therefore, NO! Rafa and Thompson were not in exactly the same position, as Phil Thompson was covering for his Manager, and working (on advice) with the resources he had so I don't really know what you expected of him.

Souness by a land slide,he wreacked Liverpool big time.

Can I request you add Phil Thompson to the poll?
he was sh*t and if it wasn't for Houllier's continued input while they were joint in charge god knows where we would be by now.  I also think that this is a bit of a desperate thread, why are we focussing on the negative points of our manager's anyway? I thought you knew better JD!

The reason I joined this site was to discuss ALL things Liverpool. I think this is a good debate. And all tho I disagree with JD on Houllier I think its a good question and a good discussion