Houllier hits out at Sven's Abramovich connection
Liverpool boss Gerard Houllier has launched a veiled attack on Sven-Goran Eriksson over the England coach’s friendship with Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich.
Houllier admitted to being upset at newspaper reports linking Steven Gerrard with a move to Stamford Bridge soon after Eriksson’s much-publicised meeting with Abramovich at his London home.
“It was not good timing that Sven went to see Abramovich and then, two days later, that there were stories saying that Chelsea wanted Steven Gerrard,” Houllier told The Guardian.
“We were told at the time that it was pure coincidence. As it is, Stevie wants to stay here but it was certainly not the best timing. I know this will generate headlines but at the end of the day I don't care.
“Eriksson was photographed [arriving at Abramovich ’s flat] in all the papers. I told him – I rang him up and spoke to him when it happened – that the timing was bad and he accepted my point.
“There’s no resentment, no reproach and he does what he likes to do and lives his life the way he wants to. But I was a bit upset that two days after his meeting the Gerrard stories were all over the newspapers.”
Eriksson himself has repeatedly been linked with a move to Chelsea.
