shannon2007

Seems a better and more realistic debt Simon. Problem I've found as well is, the game keeps pumping money in. It doesnt ever clear any debt, but it does kind of keep it at around a certain level. I wanted to go into administration

Cetainly looks as if you have your work cut out, so thats good

Shermanez

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Simon F:
And now we were going to be visiting the likes of Turf Moor in an attempt just to win our place back at the big table. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Most First Division clubs would dream of a setup like Burnley's

Anyway, Good luck :thup:

retired_bbcarr

cheers, lads. i think it's around 12 or 15 years that the debt will take to be paid off, so it should hopefully cause me some problems yet. and i'll need pongolle (and my two other frenchmen) to perform if i'm to have anything even approaching success.

and gino, turf moor was merely the first name of a championship ground which popped into my head. no offence meant. honest

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This game was billed as promotion contenders visit relegation battlers. The press had us as overwhleming favourites to go to Turf Moor and beat the living hell out of Burnley. Just goes to show that the press know bugger all about football, doesn't it. We started badly and in the 6th minute, Jon Otsemobor totally lost track of the man he was marking, Ian Moore, and the striker was picked out by Robbie Blake's cross to head home. We had not offered a single moment of attacking threat by the time Burnley won a penalty in the 45th minute, but thankfully Graham Branch hammered his effort off the cross bar. We weren't so lucky four minutes after half time as the same player drilled a shot past Patrice Luzi to wrap up the points.

Back to Anfield four days later and i was looking for the boys to pick themselves up again and see off the challenge of West Ham. Alan Pardew had said in the build-up that we were kidding ourselves if we thought we could get promoted, and that seemed to fire the lads up as they went out determined to prove him wrong. It fired them up in the wrong way, though, as we picked up four bookings in the first 12 minutes of the game. Add to that the fact that on loan midfielder Michael Brown had also battered in a free kick by that point and we weren't looking in the cleverest of positions. We did manage to salvage a somewhat underserved point, however, when we grabbed a highly fortunate equaliser on the stroke of half time. With seemingly no danger around him, West Ham's goalkeeper Jimmy Walker managed to ping his free kick clearence into the back of Conal Platt and the striker looked on as he scored what would surely turn out to be the most bizarre goal of his career.

In the days after West Ham's visit, i finally found a stupid club. I had been looking for a right back as, having decided that Otsemobor was better off in the centre, i was left with only youngster Jordan Holmes on the right. The 16 year old had done pretty well to date, but i wasn't willing to push my luck, and when Southampton agreed to send Chris Baird on loan to us for the season without demanding any loan fee or any comtribution to his weekly wages, i was more than happy.

Our Champions League dreams were over before the second leg game against Wisla kicked off, such was the severity of our first leg defeat. And though we gave a better account of ourselves and caused the visitors some problems, we were never going to do enough and when Jacek Korvalczyk bagged their only goal of the night to give them a five-nil aggregate lead, we were more than dead and buried. It did mean that we went into the UEFA Cup draw for the first round, and if we could overcome Dnipro then our financial worries would be eased a little by the money that the group stage would bring in.

retired_bbcarr

A win over Stoke on our travels got us back on track. The only goal of the game came thanks to the ever improving Conal Platt who headed home Phil Townley's cross. After the hit and run job on the Britannia Stadium, i felt confident our the visit from Sheffield United, but only a 92nd minute Michael Tonge own goal saved our blushes and earned us a point after Danny Cadamarteri had put the 'Steel City' side into a first half lead. Le Tallec made his first appearence of the season as we visited Ninian Park, and we extended our defeat-free streak to three games with a well-deserved come back. Peter Thorne had put Cardiff in front early on, but Le Tallec pulled us level when he netted from two yards after Robbie Foy's shot had been parried, and then the Frenchman set up Neil Mellor to strike the winner.

We were back in Europe after the trip to Wales, but all was not looking well after ninety minutes against Dnipro as they salvaged a 1-1 draw for the leg at their own stadium. Sinama had given us a 53rd minute lead, but with twenty minutes to go, Andriy Pavlov grabbed the goal which put them in the driving seat. Sitting in 8th place in the Championship, we needed to start moving up the table if i were to get the unhappy board off my back, but after a 1-1 draw with Sunderland at home, we ended up falling two places. Le Tallec had given us the lead from the penalty spot, but MArcus Stewart levelled matters just after the hour to claim a point for the side from the north-east.

Jérémie Aliadière joined on loan from Arsenal after the Sunderland game, and made his debut in the highly embarrassing defeat to Coventry at Highfield Road. Frank de Boer scored for the Sky Blues on the stroke of half time, and three minutes after the break, Gary McSheffrey finished off our pathetic performance with a well taken volley from twelve yards. The defeat meant that we slipped down to 13th in the table, and chairman Steve Morgan went public the next morning with how disappointed he was with the results since i had taken charge of the side.

Perhaps the writing was on the wall at that point, but i managed to earn myself a few more weeks in the hotseat with an excellent 3-2 win over Dnipro to put us into the group stage of the UEFA Cup. Aliadière bagged two first half goals to put us in charge, and though the home side pulled level to 2-2 with just five minutes left, Sinama made sure that we went through with a screaming 25 yard shot in the 88th minute. For winning the tie we were given £60K by UEFA and drawn in Group G alongside Auxerre, Basel, Heerenveen and Ujpest. Our two away ties would see us travel to Basel and Heerenveen whilst Auxerre and Ujpest would travel to Anfield.

shannon2007

Bit of a struggle atm

retired_sroch3032

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Peacemaker7:
Bit of a struggle atm <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Must be the manager

KUTGW Simon :thup:

retired_bbcarr

a struggle would be one way of putting it

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Our best perofrmance of the season to date came when league leaders Derby visited Anfield. George Burley had been rather scathing of my talents as a manager the day before the game, so when we totally dominated proceedings and walked off the pitch with our heads held high and a 1-0 win in the bank, i was pretty damn happy. Aliadière had scored the only goal of the game when he was on hand to tap in from three yeards after Pongolle's shot had been parried. Had it not been for a sterling effort from Lee Grant in the Derby goal, we could easily have won the game by four or five.

Confidence was as high as it had been at any point during the season for the visit of surprise high-flyers Rotherham, but we were back at rock bottom (and 9th in the table) after we played ninety minutes of being the perfect, generous host. Michael Proctor was given a chance to put Rotherham ahead just before half time, but his penalty was well saved by Paul Harrison. We could have used that to spur ourselves on and show some sort of attacking threat, but instead we decided to gift the visitors the three points as Zak Whitbread passed straight to Proctor just seconds after the start of the second half, and the striker this time drilled his low shot past Harrison to claim the win.

If the Derby game had been promising, with more chances created, though few still converted, then the trip to the City Ground was the fulfilment of that promise. We got off to the perfect start with Aliadière coverting Platt's pass in the third minute, and we were two up at the break when Richie Partridge's cross was headed in by Le Tallec. Aliadière grabbed his second of the game just after the hour mark to put the result beyond doubt, and it was the on loan Arsenal striker who was brought down in the box to allow substitute Pongolle to fire home a penalty for our fourth goal of the day. The rout was completed when Le Tallec bagged his second of the match with a perfectly placed free kick just eight minutes from time. My young French starlets had finally come very very good, and we were now just one point outside the play-off zone.

Bottom side Brighton were next up, and the fact that they were well adrift at the foot of the league having only mustered five points so far meant that we could be confident of making it two wins in a row. And we did, though it took us until the second half to convert our superiority. Aliadière continued his great start to life at Anfield when he volleyed home Platt's cross in the 51st minute, and Pongolle made it two in two games for himself when he tapped in Darren Potter's cross from two yards. The win was complete when Potter got on the scoresheet himself, firing in a ten yard shot after Le Tallec's free kick had been knocked into his path by Pongolle.

With a few pounds free on the slightly increased wage bill, i managed to bring in Peter Van Vossen on a free transfer. The ageing Dutchman agreed a contract which would see him at Anfield until the end of the season, and he would be paid £750 per week. What he provided us was some experience that we were drastically lacking, and though he wasn't the most talented of players, he could hopefully pass on some of his knowledge to the young lads in the team.

retired_bbcarr

Van Vossen didn't make the trip down to the south coast as we faced POrtsmouth in the third round of the league cup. The press had somehow made us favourites, but they were soon made to realise how wrong they were as Pompey battered us throughout the ninety minutes, finishing off with a 3-0 win thatnks to goals from Yakubu, Amdy Faye and LuaLua. To make things even worse, when the scores had been 0-0, Neil Mellor had sent a penalty sailing over the cross bar.

Our new Dutchman made his debut three days after the Pompey defeat when we were back down south, visiting QPR at Loftus Road. Aliadière had put us ahead when he raced onto Chris Baird's long, raking ball, but a quick-fire double from Jamie Cureton made sure that the home side lead going into the break. A quick Partrdige free kick in the 81st minute found Darren Potter unmarked the the midfielder rifled in an equaliser, but with only a minute left on the clock, QPR netted all three points when Paul Furlong was left unmarked at a corner and he headed easily past Harrison.

Our UEFA Cup debut saw us face Basel on our travels. The Swiss side were, in my view, overwhelimg favourites to grab their second win of the group stage, having overcome Auxerre 1-0 in France on matchday 1, which we had sat out. But we gained the upper hand in just the seventh minute when Pongolle's shot came back off the post and bounced into the net of the luckless Basel goalkeeper, Philippe Meier. Another own goal came our way on the half hour when Meier parried Pongolle's shot, only to see it bounce over him and into the net off the shins of Murat Yakin. Our theird and final goal of the game was one we managed to score ourselves as Pongolle again had a shot parried, and this time Conal Platt was on hand to tap it in and seal our win.

A win over Ipswich three days after beating Basel moved us up into the play-off zone. Pongolle, who had been, quite simply, outstanding in Basel, produced an even better display to see off the challenge of Joe Royal's men. The young French wizard tormented the Ipswich defence from start to finish with great runs, both off the ball and with the it at his feet, and rounded off his stunning day with a two goal haul. The first of his efforts came in the 25th minute when he utilised his lightning pace to get behind the Ipswich defence and onto the end of Baird's fantastic long ball and strike a low shot past Kelvin Davis. His second, and the goal that killed the game off, came nineteen minutes before the end, and showed his predatory instincts as he jabbed a shot home from five yards ater Mellor had knocked down Partridge's cross.

There was a two week break before we faced Watford at Anfield, and it did us little good. The London side grabbed the early goal they wanted through Toumani Diagouranga and then played 11 man defence in an effort to kill off the game and take a 1-0 win back to the capital. We managed to stop them doing that through Zak Whitbread's first goal for the club, but the dropping of two points saw us drop two places and out of the play-off zone. A fact which did not please the board. Not at all.

Ujpest were our next opponents as we made a bid for post-Christmas european football. The game was a laregly dull affair as they came, like Watford had, determined to take something from the game and having no qualms about sticking eleven men across the goal line and praying that we didn't sneak one in. Thankfully, with nine minutes left, we did through Pongolle, but we then fell asleep and Ujpest's first attack of the game yielded an equaliser through Krisztian Balogh. We stil sat top of the group; however, with Auxerre hammering Heerenveen by 3-0. A couple of draws in our final games would probably be enough to take us through to the next round.

retired_bbcarr

we knew that 5th placed Crewe would provide a challenge, but seeing as the tie at Anfield and the positive esults were beginning to come more often, i was confident that we could come away from the game with a win. And my confidence was hardly hurt when Pongolle gave us the lead in the fifteenth minute of the game. We dominated the first half, but were made to pay for the chances we missed when Luke Varney headed in a Steve Jones cross at the back post on the stroke of half time. It was a cruel blow, and one we didn't recover from. Dean Ashton, who had been quiet throughout the first period, sprang to life in the second as he grabbed a hat-trick to give Crewe the win that i had craved. the defeat moved us down to 10th in the tale and served only to increase the ever-mounting pressure on me.

The chance to forget our league troubles presented itself as we travelled to Heerenveen and, for a long time, it looked as if we would bag our place in the after Christmas rounds of the tournament. Pongolle continued his magnificent form with a well placed volley in the 56th minute, but we relaxed too much, and goals from Arnold Bruggink on 87 and 93 minutes gave the home side the win.

A visit to Preston awaited us on our return to league action, and in the aftermath it was a defeat that chairman Steve Morgan described to the press as 'embarrassing'. The team 23rd in the Championship had just given us a real footballing lesson as they dominated from start to finish at Deepdale, scoring two goals of their way to a clean-sheet victory. The goals both came in the first half, courtesy of Brian O'Neil and Youl Mawéné.

But if Morgan had felt that the Preston game were embarrassing, it was nothing compared to the despair felt after we had visited Plymouth. Pongolle had given us a 3rd minute lead from the penalty spot after David Friio had fouled Richie Partridge, but the game was all downhill from there. Lee Hodges levelled the scores halfway through the first period, and Stevie Crawford put the home side ahead with the last kick before the break. We were still shell-shocked as the second half started, and Crawford had doubled his tally inside sixty seconds of the kick-off. Friio redeemed himself for giving away the penalty when he headed home from a well delivered free kick in the 65th minute, and the rout was complete two minute from time when Crawford completed his hat-trick, pushing us all the way down to 16th in the table.

Almost inevitably, our fourth defeat on the run proved too much for the board. The Plymouth defeat had been on a Wednesday evening, and just twenty four hours later i was summoned to the chairman's office for a review of my performance. I guess i knew what was coming, i certainly expected the worst. And it was confirmed to me in a meeting that lasted less than five minutes. I was no longer manager of Liverpool Football Club. The board felt that results had gone too sour and they needed to relieve me of my duties as quickly as possible so that a new man could come in and rescue them before they fell too far. They paid off the remaining £200K of my contract, and i walked away from Anfield for the last time. I didn't know whether i'd come back to football, the experience had left me both emotionally and physically tired, but at least i could say that i gave it a shot.


The End

retired_brittni10

Ouch