'Stale' Houllier right to leave, says Heskey
Former Liverpool striker Emile Heskey admitted that Gerard Houllier had taken Liverpool “as far as he could” as he had started to go “stale” in the job.
Houllier parted company with Liverpool earlier this week as the board felt they needed to attract a new manager if they were to compete for the title next season.
Heskey is sympathetic to his former boss, who signed him for £11m (€16.4m) from Leicester four years ago but recently sold him to Birmingham for around half that fee.
“It was a sad day, given what he had done at the club. No one can say that he has not done a good job as he’s won trophies there,” he observed.
However, Heskey can understand why Liverpool felt they needed to act after finishing fourth, a full 30 points behind champions Arsenal.
“He’s a good manager. But I think he went a bit stale and and that happens with managers, just like Peter Reid at Sunderland,” he added.
“Livepool are such a big club that they need to be challenging with the top two. He’s taken them far but he’d taken them as far as he could.”
Valencia’s Rafael Benitez, whose president Jaime Orti has insisted is not leaving, and Porto’s Jose Mourinho, who interests Chelsea, are said to be on the shortlist along with Alan Curbishley and Gordon Strachan
Heskey observed: “The next manager has a tough job on his hands, but there are already some quality players there and there should be some money to sign some others this summer.”
The appointment of Liverpool’s new manager will certainly be keenly anticipated by Michael Owen, who will wait until a decision is made before deciding on his future at the club.
Owen once again reassured the club that he has no intention of leaving on a free Bosman transfer at the end of his current contract next year, insisting that “something will be sorted in the summer“.
However, despite his self-professed loyalty to Liverpool, he still needs to be reassured of the club’s ambitions if he is to sign anything more than a one-year extension.
“I am intrigued to see who the manager is, but also the whole package. I would love to see improvement in the squad and I would love to see a good manager come in,” he said.
“Obviously the new stadium is being built, which is right for the club. It sounds like you are holding everyone to ransom but I am not. I just want to be playing in a top team.
“The chairman is saying it may take a while to appoint a new manager so I will just sit tight. I can’t put a percentage chance on me signing a new contract.”
